Reverse Engineer Malware Samples for Cyber Threat Analysis

Reverse engineering helps security analysts understand how malware works internally, what damage it can cause, and how it spreads. This knowledge allows organizations to build better defense strategies, detect similar threats, and improve threat intelligence systems.

The objective is to download or simulate known malware samples, use disassemblers or debuggers to analyze their execution, identify behavior such as registry manipulation or file encryption, and extract Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) like IP addresses, domains, and file hashes.

Malware samples are obtained from trusted research repositories. These binaries are analyzed in isolated environments where static disassembly is done to understand logic flow. Dynamic execution tracks real-time activity like file access, registry edits, and C2 communication.

• Obtain malware samples from open-source repositories (like VirusShare, Malpedia).
• Disassemble binaries and analyze opcodes, strings, and function calls.
• Execute samples in a sandbox (e.g., Cuckoo) and log file, network, and memory activity.
• Extract Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) such as IPs, hashes, and file paths.
• Map findings to known attack patterns and generate a threat report.

• Ghidra Reverse Engineering Tool
• FLARE VM for Malware Analysis
• Cuckoo Sandbox
• MITRE ATT&CK Framework
• Malpedia Malware Sample Repository