Practical Malware Analysis & Triage – TCM Security
Course Overview
Arm yourself with knowledge and bring the fight to the bad guys! Practical Malware Analysis & Triage (PMAT) brings the state of the art of malware analysis to you in engaging instructional videos and custom-made, practical labs.
Welcome to Practical Malware Analysis & Triage. I’m Matt, aka HuskyHacks, and I’m excited to be your instructor for this course. I had a blast putting it together and I hope that you will come along with me and learn the art of splicing, slicing, inspecting, and dissecting malware samples.
Featuring two malware analysis lab build options: local virtual machines and a rapid-deployable cloud malware analysis network! Learn how to spin up a malware analysis network on AWS from anywhere in the world!
Skill Level
Basic-Plus to Intermediate. The course includes a selection of advanced topics. All concepts are taught in an accessible, foundational manner.
Why Take the Practical Malware Analysis & Triage Course?
This course is centered on practical labs that bring malware samples to bear in a safe, controlled environment.
First, you will learn to handle malware safely and construct an isolated lab environment. Then, you will learn the basics of malware analysis on samples designed to teach you the core analysis concepts. As the labs progress, the level of offensive tradecraft employed by these samples grows.
By the end of the course, you’ll be using automated workflows and advanced analysis to extract key facts about real-world specimens.
Finally, and most importantly, you’ll learn the keys to writing detection rules and triage reports to tell the world what you have learned.
What Will I Receive from this Course?
- Access to the student-only channel on Discord to receive support from the instructor and other students.
- Access to 9+ hours of engaging, instructional video content.
- Access to the PMAT Lab repository containing dozens of malware samples designed to teach you the fundamentals.
- Course completion certificate.
System Requirements
- Basic IT knowledge.
- Knowledge of the general classes of malware (virus, trojan, worm, etc). Knowledge of how these malware classes function on the technical level is not required.
- Comfort in the command line of Linux and Windows. All tools and techniques taught in the course are explained step-by-step but working knowledge of Bash and the Windows command prompt is recommended.
- For a local lab build, you need:
- A computer that:
- Has at least 6GB of available RAM.
- Has at least 40GB of available storage.
- Can run Oracle VirtualBox and host two lab virtual machines at the same time (with the option to host a third for additional development).
- Has an internet connection.
- For a cloud malware analysis lab, you need:
- An AWS account and a way to pay for AWS resource utilization.
- Knowledge of x86 Assembly and other low level computer programming concepts is not required.
Recommendations
- Familiarity with programming concepts is recommended but not required.
- Familiarity with offensive cybersecurity Tactics, Techniques & Procedures (TTPs) will be helpful but is not required.
Practical Malware Analysis and Triage Course Objectives
Course Topics
- Safety Always! Build good habits for handling malware safely and create an analysis lab.
- Safe Malware Sourcing. Learn where to source malware samples safely (no need for the dark web!).
- Basic Analysis. Learn basic analysis methodology, including interpreting strings, inspecting Windows API calls, identifying packed malware, and discovering host-based signatures. Then, detonate malware to collect network signatures and identify malicious domains and second-stage payloads!
- Intro to the x86 Assembly Language. Dip your toes into the low-level world of Assembly Language! Learn the foundations of x86 Assembly and use it to perform advanced analysis.
- Advanced Analysis. Use sophisticated tools like Cutter and x32dbg to discover key insights about malware samples at the lowest possible level. Control the execution flow of a program and manipulate its low-level instructions in a debugger.
- Patch It Out: Binary Patching & Anti-analysis. Learn the crafty practice of patching binaries at the ASM level to alter the flow of their programs. Then, learn to identify and defeat anti-analysis techniques.
- Gone Phishing. Learn to analyze malicious documents and document-delivered malware, including malicious macros and remote template injections.
- What the Shell? Learn to identify and carve out embedded shellcode.
- Off Script. Identify scripted, obfuscated malware delivery techniques that use PowerShell and Visual Basic Script.
- Stay Sharp. Decompile and reverse engineer C# assemblies and learn about reverse engineering the .NET Framework! Then, reverse engineer an encrypted malware C2 dropper back to near-perfect original source code with DNSpy!
- Go Time. Learn the analysis considerations of malware written in Go.
- Get Mobile! Use MobSF to reverse engineer malicious Android applications.
- The Bossfight! Use everything you have learned to do a full analysis of one of the most infamous malware samples in history.
- Automating the Process. Use Jupyter Notebooks and malware sandboxes to automate the analysis process.
- Tell the World! Write YARA rules to aid in the detection of malware samples and learn how to write effective analysis reports to publish findings.
- Course Final. Apply everything you’ve learned to display your mastery of the art and science of malware analysis!
Who Should Take the Practical Malware Analysis & Triage Course?
- IT professionals of all skill levels who are looking to gain foundational knowledge of malware analysis.
- Network defenders looking to deepen their knowledge of the state of the art of malware analysis.
- Penetration Testers/Red Teamers looking to pick up the skill of malware analysis to increase tradecraft/provide higher threat emulation fidelity.
- Anyone who wants to learn an in-demand skill set and bring the fight to the bad guys!