Book Image

Learning Malware Analysis

By : Monnappa K A
5 (1)
Book Image

Learning Malware Analysis

5 (1)
By: Monnappa K A

Overview of this book

Malware analysis and memory forensics are powerful analysis and investigation techniques used in reverse engineering, digital forensics, and incident response. With adversaries becoming sophisticated and carrying out advanced malware attacks on critical infrastructures, data centers, and private and public organizations, detecting, responding to, and investigating such intrusions is critical to information security professionals. Malware analysis and memory forensics have become must-have skills to fight advanced malware, targeted attacks, and security breaches. This book teaches you the concepts, techniques, and tools to understand the behavior and characteristics of malware through malware analysis. It also teaches you techniques to investigate and hunt malware using memory forensics. This book introduces you to the basics of malware analysis, and then gradually progresses into the more advanced concepts of code analysis and memory forensics. It uses real-world malware samples, infected memory images, and visual diagrams to help you gain a better understanding of the subject and to equip you with the skills required to analyze, investigate, and respond to malware-related incidents.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

2. System And Network Monitoring


When malware is executed, it can interact with a system in various ways and perform different activities. For example, when executed, a malware can spawn a child process, drop additional files on the filesystem, create registry keys and values for its persistence, and download other components or take commands from the command and control server. Monitoring a malware's interaction with the system and network will help in gaining a better understanding of the nature and purpose of the malware.

During dynamic analysis, when the malware is executed, you will carry out various monitoring activities. The objective is to gather real-time data related to malware behavior and its the impact on the system. The following list outlines different types of monitoring carried out during dynamic analysis:

  • Process monitoring: Involves monitoring the process activity and examining the properties of the result process during malware execution.
  • File system monitoring: Includes...