What is Malware Analysis and How It Works?
In this brief article we discuss one of the most common cyber threats ‘malware’ and how to analyze it technically.
Malware is one of the most common cyber threats that cyber security analysts have to deal with on a daily basis. Any software that is intended to damage, tamper, or steal data from a computer system is referred to as malware. Malware can come in many different forms such as viruses, trojans or ransomware. To identify the capabilities, functionality, and the threat of malware, we have to conduct malware analysis.
Malware analysis is the process of studying and examining malicious software. This is an important process in cybersecurity, because it helps security analysts to identify and understand the behavior of malware, which helps in developing effective countermeasures to protect our systems from attacks.
The two primary techniques for analyzing malware are static analysis and dynamic analysis.
Static malware analysis is the practice of examining malware without actually running it. We try to extract as much data from the malware as possible, including its file type, any known signatures, whether it uses encryption or obfuscation, and whether it contains any harmful payloads or commands.
OSINT tools such as VirusTotal, Hybrid-Analysis, and Any. Run can be used to scan the malware file and provide information on its characteristics, including whether it has been identified as malicious by other security vendors.
Malware can be found in different file forms, such as executable (.exe), script (.js,.vbs), and document (.doc,.pdf) files. It is possible to determine the type of malware and how it might operate by looking at the file type.
The size of the malware file can give hints about how it will behave. Large files could be a sign that the malware is carrying a heavy payload or they might contain other files or scripts.
To prevent discovery, malware files may have false or misleading names. It is possible to spot potential risks and tell whether a file is safe or malicious by looking at its name.
Malware files can also be found in unexpected places on the system, such as temporary directories or hidden folders.
They may be digitally signed with a certificate to give them the appearance of legitimacy. Checking the digital signature of the file can help us understand the file has been tampered with or is valid. Investigating a malware file’s timestamps can reveal information about when it was produced, modified, or accessed. This data can be utilized to see the malware attack’s timeline and establish when the system was first exposed to the threat.
A hash value can be used to determine whether a file has been altered or tampered with because it represents a unique id of the file.
Dynamic malware analysis is the process of executing the malware file in a controlled environment. This involves running the malware in a virtual or sandbox environment so that its actions can be seen, traced and assessed.
OSINT tools such as Any. Run, Cuckoo Sandbox or Joe Sandboxing can be used to do the investigation.
Dynamic analysis tools can capture the system calls made by malware, such as accessing the file system or registry, setting up a network connection, or communicating with running processes. The tool can also show us if the malware creates, deletes or modifies files and registry keys.
Dynamic analysis tools can also track the network traffic generated by malware, including data exfiltration, connections to command and control servers, or DNS queries, as well as malware’s usage of memory, including the creation and deletion of memory objects.
Static and dynamic analysis are both essential to have a better understanding of the malware and establish defenses to protect our environments securely.
