Malware Analysis Explained: Types, Stages, Use Cases

Malware investigation is the method of separating and reverse-engineering pernicious computer programs. It is an important part of an event reaction strategy since malware is at the core of so many security breaches. It assists responders in determining the scope of a malware-related incident and identifying other hosts or devices that may be affected quickly. According to research, the Malware analysis market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 31.0 percent until 2024, to USD 11.7 billion. The rising amount of false alarms is one of the key reasons driving the industry. So, it is pretty much clear that the demand for Cyber Security programs and experts has been rising ever since, and getting educated in this domain will be really helpful and fruitful for your career. Learn more about malware analysis with this blog. 

What is malware analysis?

Malware analysis is the process of determining how a suspect file or URL behaves and what its goal is. The study’s result assists in detecting and mitigating the possible hazard. It is an act of breaking down malware into its essential components and code, examining its features, functioning, source, and effect to minimize the danger and avoid future incidents.

What are the advantages of malware analysis?

The following are the main advantages offered by malware analysis. 

• To reduce company danger, delve deeper into cyber-attacks.
• Improved productivity through automated analysis.
• By giving more information about the cyber security tools and methods used by attackers, future protection measures can be better informed.
• For both Windows and macOS, a single testing environment is available.
• Use an easy interface to load questionable files or file sets.
• Connect with antivirus software for a more thorough examination of known threats.
• Stop assaults from spreading by utilizing locally produced attack profiles that are quickly distributed across the FireEye network.
• Automate virtual machine installation, baseline, and recovery to mimic actual OS use.

Why malware analysis?

The main goal of malware analysis is to gather data from the malware sample that will aid in the response to a malware event. Malware analysis is to evaluate malware’s capabilities, identify it, and control it. It also aids in the identification of patterns that may be utilized to cure illnesses in the future. There are many more such reasons for using malware analysis such as follows:

• To figure out what kind of virus it is and what it’s for.
• To learn more about how the system was hacked and how it affected people.
• To discover the malware’s network indicators, which can subsequently be utilized to identify other infestations through network management.
• To extract host-based markers that may then be utilized to identify similar infections via host-based monitoring.
• To find out what the attacker’s goal and motivation are.

What are the types of malware analysis?

Different analytic approaches are frequently used to comprehend the workings and features of malware, as well as to analyze its impact on the system. The categorization of these analytical approaches is as follows:

1. Static Analysis. When a program is executing, it is not analyzed in static analysis. It is the simplest method and enables you to retrieve metadata from the suspicious binary. Although static analysis may not disclose all of the essential knowledge, it can occasionally give useful information that might assist you to decide where to target your later analysis attempts.
   

2. Dynamic analysis. It is the method of running a suspicious binary in a controlled setting and seeing how it behaves. This approach is simple to use and provides useful information on the binary’s activities during execution. This method of analysis is beneficial, but it does not expose all of the hostile program’s capabilities.
   

3. Interactive Analysis. To deliver the finest of both methods, the hybrid analysis combines basic and dynamic methodologies. It identifies malicious code and pulls more compromise indications. It can even assist in the detection of complex malware.
   

What are malware analysis stages?

Malware analysis can be separated into multiple stages as explained below.

Fully automated analysis: One of the only ways to survey a suspicious program is to check it with completely robotized devices. These instruments are able to rapidly survey what malware is competent in the event that it invaded the framework. This analysis is able to deliver a nitty gritty report with respect to the arrange activity, record action, and registry keys. Indeed in spite of the fact that a completely computerized examination does not give as much data as an examiner, it is still the quickest method to filter through expansive amounts of malware.

Static properties analysis: In order to induce a well-versed view of malware, it is basic to see its inactive properties. It is simple to get to these properties since it does not necessitate running the potential malware. The inactive properties incorporate hashes, inserted strings, implanted assets, and header data. The properties ought to be able to appear as rudimentary pointers of compromise.

Interactive behavior analysis: the malicious file needs to be kept in laboratories to detect whether it infects or not.  Examiners will as often as possible screen these research facilities to see in case the noxious record tries to join any hosts. With this data, the investigator will at that point be able to reproduce the circumstance to see what the pernicious record would do once it was associated with the have, giving them an advantage over those who utilize mechanized devices.

Manual code reversing: Here investigators invert the design code by utilizing debuggers, disassemblers, specialized apparatuses, and compilers to translate any scrambled information and decide the rationale. It may be an uncommon aptitude and executing it takes a part of the time. A few examiners tend to skip this step which comes about in losing a parcel of profitable bits of knowledge into the nature of the malware.

What are the use cases of malware analysis?

1) Computer security occurrence administration.

On the off chance that an organization accepts that malware may have entered into its framework, a reaction group will respond to the circumstance. Following this, they will need to perform malware examination on any possibly noxious records that are found. This will at that point decide in case it is without a doubt malware, what sort, and the effect that it might have on the particular organizations’ systems. 

2) Malware research.

Scholarly or industry gathering where malware analysts perform malware examination. This makes the finest understanding of how malware works and the most up-to-date strategies utilized in its creation. The fast and easy way to do it is to use modern tools like ANY.RUN sandbox.

3) Indicator of compromise (IOC) extraction.

Vendors of computer program arrangements and items may conduct bulk malware investigations in order to determine potential modern IOCs which can in turn offer assistance to the organizations to protect themselves against malware assaults.