Conducting static property analysis should ideally leave a malware analyst with a fair idea of whether to continue pursuing or cease the investigation. In the next phase, behavior analysis, the malware sample is executed in isolation as the analyst observes how it interacts with the system and the changes it makes.
Often, a piece of malware might refuse to execute if it detects a virtual environment or might be designed to avoid execution without manual interaction i. Others might also try to create mutex objects to avoid infecting the same host multiple times to preserve operational stability. These findings are relevant indicators of compromise.
Of course, you can conduct additional research on the new data points you gather by using any malware analysis database. Likewise, additional network analysis can disclose details about the command and control infrastructure of the malware specimen, the volume and kind of data it leaks, etc. Reverse engineering the code of a sample malware can provide valuable insights. This process can:. Typically, to manually reverse the code, analysts make use of debuggers and disassemblers.
Hopefully, after reading this article, you now have a good idea of what malware is and why malware analysis is necessary. Skilled attackers are almost always a step ahead of the game and usually find ways to evade detection or execute zero-day exploits. However, script kiddies and the uninitiated, are the sections of cybercriminals who can be dissuaded by taking necessary preventive measures.
Stay tuned! Manage Certificates Like a Pro. Contact details collected on InfoSec Insights may be used to send you requested information, blog update notices, and for marketing purposes. Learn more Lumena is a cybersecurity consultant, tech writer, and regular columnist for InfoSec Insights. She is currently pursuing her masters in cybersecurity and has a passion for helping companies implement better security programs to protect their customers' data.
Info missing - Please tell us where to send your free PDF! Manage your certificates like a pro. November 9, 0. November 3, 0. November 1, 0. October 28, 0. October 25, 0. To assist with identifying packed malware PeStudio displays the level of entropy of the file. Entropy is measured on a scale of , with 8 being the highest level of entropy.
The higher the entropy the more likely that a piece of malware is packed. For example, Windows contains various libraries called DLLs, this stands for dynamic link library. Each library contains a unique set of functions known as Windows APIs, these are used by legitimate programs to perform various functions.
For example, the DLL Kerner However, malware will use the same methodology to import its own functionality. By looking at the imports a malware analyst may be able to predict the potential behavior of the malware. Process Hacker allows a malware analyst to see what processes are running on a device. This can be useful when detonating a piece of malware to see what new processes are created by the malware and where these are being run from on disk.
Malware will often try to hide by copying itself to a new location and then renaming itself, Process Hacker will display this activity occurring making it easy to identify how the malware is attempting to hide. This tool is also useful for pulling information from the memory of a process. This means that if a piece of malware is detonated then Process Hacker can be used to inspect the memory for strings, the strings found in memory will often return useful information such as IP addresses, domains, and user agents that are being used by the malware.
ProcMon is a powerful tool from Microsoft which records live filesystem activity such as process creations and registry changes. This is really handy when used in tandem with Process Hacker as a new process may be created and then quickly killed, this process can then be reviewed in the ProcMon capture. ProcMon can be particularly useful when analyzing malicious documents. The threat actors behind Emotet often use malicious Word documents as an attack vector.
The Word document will contain macros which when enabled will call out to the attackers C2 infrastructure and download the Emotet payload. None of this activity is visible to the user of the compromised device. By using ProcMon you are able to capture the Word Document being opened, view the hidden PowerShell process being launched and the base64 encoded command being run. One issue with ProcMon is that in a matter of seconds it can quickly record over , events.
Although the filters in ProcMon are excellent there is always a risk an event of interest could be missed, however, this data can be exported as a CSV and imported into the next tool in my list. ProcDot allows a malware analyst to ingest the output from ProcMon and automatically generate a graphical representation of the captured data. Simply upload the csv into ProcDot and select the process name of the malware. Rather than creating filters and navigating hundreds of thousands of events you are now able to navigate a visual diagram of what recorded malware activity.
ProcMon data can also be enriched by ingesting a pcap from a tool such as Wireshark into ProcDot. Autoruns is another Microsoft tool that will display any installed software on a device that is set to launch when a machine is powered on. The damage caused could disrupt normal operations of a computer, a network, steal important and confidential information stores, bypass access controls to gain access to confidential arenas.
It can cause harm to the victims in unimaginable ways. The victims could be individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and even important bodies working towards the improvement of the world.
A report states that around , malware samples are being caught every day. This in turn calls for a strong process that will detect any malicious content right at the start and help to put together a process that will avert the situation or be able to do significant damage control.
Malware analysis the process of detecting and mitigating any potential threat by any virus and enhance the security of any application, website, or server. Malware analysis is a key process that is undertaken by any company today to ensure they are safe and secure with regard to their information and keep themselves from any vulnerabilities.
Malware analysis can be described as the process of understanding the behavior and purpose of a suspicious file or URL. The output of the process aids in detecting and mitigating any potential threat. Some key benefits that malware analysis offers are to the incident responders and security analysts. The static analysis does not analyze the code when it is running. Instead, it examines files for malicious intent. This makes it useful to identify infrastructure, packed files, and libraries. Some technical indicators can be used to determine if the file is malicious.
However, since it does not run the code, it is difficult to detect sophisticated malware. Dynamic analysis executes any suspicious malicious code in a secure environment called a sandbox.
It enables security professionals to watch the malware in action and not impacting the risk of infecting the system. It offers deeper visibility to reveal the true nature of the threat. It also reduces the time to rediscover a file with malicious code.
Hackers and adversaries often hide code in a sandbox that will not run until some conditions are met. The hybrid analysis is a combination of basic and dynamic techniques to provide the best of both approaches.
It detects malicious codes and extracts more indicators of compromise. It can even help detect this in sophisticated malware. There would be no need to run a program to see it. This is the first level that will determine if a deeper investigation is required or not.
It will determine if further steps will be required.
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