Introduction to Malware Analysis

In today’s world malware is an ever present threat in the cybersecurity landscape. Therefore, it is important to remain vigilant in our efforts to understand how malware works and how it can be prevented in the future. Over the last few weeks I have dived head first into the topic of malware analysis. Over the next few weeks I will bring all of you along to learn alongside me in my malware analysis journey. Together we will learn the ins and outs of malware analysis, what it is and the advanced techniques behind it.

What is Malware Analysis?

Malware analysis is the process of dissecting and studying malicious software. Malicious software commonly known as malware is a type of software that has malicious intent.These pieces of software will steal information and disrupt large business networks. Malware analysis can be extremely useful in the cybersecurity landscape as it helps incident responders and security analysts understand the attacks on a more detailed level so they can prevent them in the future.

Types of Malware Analysis

Static Analysis

Static analysis is a type of malware analysis that does not execute the program. Instead, static analysis examines the file for suspicious signs or malicious intent. Experts focus on analyzing the code, binaries, and structure of the malware to identify its potential behavior. By looking through the code in detail analysts can identify suspicious patterns. A common technique when performing static malware analysis Is to pull all of the associated strings in the program. By pulling all of the associated strings of the program's code, analysts can easily see if any suspicious libraries are being called such as the ‘CreateRemoteThread’ Library that is often involved in process injection. In most cases this type of analysis is done with disassemblers and decompilers which translate the binary code back into a more readable form for the analyst.This type of analysis is a crucial step in the overall malware analysis process.

Dynamic Analysis

Unlike static analysis, dynamic analysis of malware executes the malicious program in a secure environment known as a sandbox. A sandbox is a simulated environment that Is isolated from everything else.This isolation allows the malware to function in the same way that it would in the wild without causing harm to anyone's system. Dynamic analysis gives experts a much clearer picture of what the piece of malware is doing. By actually allowing the malware to run experts are able to see exactly how the malware operates including all system, registry and network activity that occurs. To fully understand how a piece of malware works it is crucial that dynamic analysis be performed.

Hybrid analysis

Hybrid analysis is a combination of static and dynamic analysis. In this technique both forms of analysis are used together to examine malware. For example an analyst that is using this form of malware analysis may use static analysis to identify a potentially malicious file and then use dynamic analysis to understand the files behavior better in real time. In most situations hybrid analysis is considered the most effective method of malware analysis as it provides both a comprehensive understanding of the code and the behavioral patterns of the malware itself.

Benefits of Malware Analysis

Threat Research 

Threat research involves the study and analysis of emerging malware and offensive techniques to understand their characteristics and potential impacts. Malware analysis is a fundamental part of threat research. Malware analysis allows engineers to understand attack vectors in a more comprehensive way by understanding the ins and outs of the software used by attackers. 

Enhanced Incident Response

The advancement of threat research allows for a more effective incident response overall for any cybersecurity company. It is crucial that constant malware analysis be done in order to understand the newest pieces of software and tools available, the constant creation of new pieces of malware makes keeping up with potential vulnerabilities a challenging task. This is why malware analysis and threat research is such a key part of any cyber security infrastructure. In order to improve a company's incident response time it is crucial to understand every aspect of how the attack was done. Therefore, it is extremely important to be up to date on current malware threats.

Final thoughts

As we’ve learned together, malware analysis is not just a technical skill. It is a critical component of any cybersecurity infrastructure that is essential for effective incident response and research. Over the next few weeks, I plan to dive deep into the topic of malware analysis and reverse engineering. I invite you to join along in these posts as we learn together about the complex workings of malware analysis. Till next time!