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Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Malware Analysis Fundamentals

Introduction

Malware analysis is the art of understanding malicious software — its capabilities, behavior, origin, and impact. Analysts use a combination of static and dynamic techniques to dissect samples, extract indicators of compromise (IOCs), and develop detection signatures.

Static Analysis

Static analysis examines malware without executing it. It provides initial understanding and extracts metadata, strings, and structural information.

Basic Static Analysis

File type identification

file suspicious.exe

Extract strings

strings -n 8 suspicious.exe | head -50

Check embedded hashes

sha256sum suspicious.exe

PE header analysis with pefile

python3 -c "

import pefile

pe = pefile.PE('suspicious.exe')

print('Sections:')

for section in pe.sections:

print(f' {section.Name.decode():8} {hex(section.VirtualAddress):10} {hex(section.SizeOfRawData):10}')

print('Imported DLLs:')

for entry in pe.DIRECTORY_ENTRY_IMPORT:

print(f' {entry.dll.decode()}')

"

Automated IOC extraction with pefile

import pefile, hashlib, yara

def extract_iocs(filepath):

pe = pefile.PE(filepath)

iocs = {

'sha256': hashlib.sha256(open(filepath, 'rb').read()).hexdigest(),

'imports': [imp.dll.decode() for imp in pe.DIRECTORY_ENTRY_IMPORT],

'sections': [

{s.Name.decode().strip('\x00'): hex(s.SizeOfRawData)}

for s in pe.sections

],

'compile_time': str(pe.FILE_HEADER.TimeDateStamp),

}

Detect suspicious imports

suspicious_apis = {'CreateRemoteThread', 'WriteProcessMemory',

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