Updated April 8, 2023
Introduction to Malware Analysis Tools
The advantages of using computers for official and personal purposes are plenty, but there are threats as well by the frauds operating online. Such frauds are called cybercriminals. They steal our identity and other information by creating malicious programs called malware. The process of analyzing and determining the purpose and functionality of the malware is called malware analysis. Malware consists of malicious codes which are to be detected using effective methods, and malware analysis is used to develop these detection methods. Malware analysis is also essential to develop malware removal tools after the malicious codes have been detected.
Malware Analysis Tools
Some of the malware analysis tools and techniques are listed below:
1. PEiD
Cybercriminals try to pack their malware so that it is difficult to determine and analyze. An application that is used to detect such packed or encrypted malware is PEiD. User dB is a text file from which the PE files are loaded, and PEiD can detect 470 forms of different signatures in the PE files.
2. Dependency Walker
The modules of 32-bit and 64-bit windows can be scanned using an application called Dependency walker. The module’s functions that are imported and exported can be listed out using the dependency walker. The file dependencies can also be displayed using a dependency walker, and this reduces the required set of files to a minimum. The information contained in these files, like file path, version number, etc., can also be displayed using the dependency walker. This is a free application.
3. Resource Hacker
The resources from the windows binaries can be extracted using an application called Resource Hacker. Extraction, addition, modification of resources like strings, images, etc., can be done using a resource hacker. This is a free application.
4. PEview
The file headers of portable executable files consist of information along with the other sections of the file, and this information can be accessed using an application called PEview. This is a free application.
5. FileAlyzer
FileAlyzer is also a tool to access the information in the file headers of portable executable files along with the other sections of the file, but FileAlyzer provides more features and functions when compared to PEview. Some of the features are VirusTotal for analysis accepts the malware from VirusTotal tab and functions are unpacking UPX and other files that are packed.
6. SysAnalyzer Github Repo
The different aspects of the system states and process states are monitored by using an application called SysAnalyzer. This application is used for runtime analysis. The actions taken by the binary on the system is reported by the analysts using SysAnalyzer.
7. Regshot 1.9.0
Regshot is a utility that compares the registry after the system changes are done with the registry before the system changes.
8. Wireshark
The analysis of network packets is done through Wireshark. The network packets are captured, and the data contained in the packets are displayed.
9. Robtex Online Service
The analysis of Internet Providers, Domains, structure of the network is done using the Robtex online service tool.
10. VirusTotal
Analysis of files, URL’s for the detection of viruses, worms, etc., is done using VirusTotal service.
11. Mobile-Sandbox
The malware analysis of the android operating system smartphones is done using mobile-sandbox.
12. Malzilla
The malicious pages are explored by a program called Malzilla. Using malzilla, we can pick our user agent and referrer, and malzilla can use proxies. The source from which the webpages and HTTP headers are derived is shown by malzilla.
13. Volatility
The artifacts in the volatile memory, also called RAM that are digital, are extracted using the Volatility framework, and it is a collection of tools.
14. APKTool
Android apps can be reverse engineered using APKTool. The resources can be decoded to their original form and can be rebuilt with required changes.
15. Dex2Jar
The android Dalvik executable format can be read using Dex2Jar. The dex instructions are read in dex-ir format and can be changed to ASM format.
16. Smali
Dalvik and Android’s virtual machine implementation uses the dex format, and it can be assembled or dissembled using Smali.
17. PeePDF
Harmful PDF files can be identified by using the PeePDF tool written in python language.
18. Cuckoo Sandbox
The suspicious file analysis can be automated using the cuckoo sandbox.
19. Droidbox
The applications of android can be analyzed using droidbox.
20. Malwasm
The database consists of all malware activities; the analysis steps can be maintained using the malwasm tool, which is based on the cuckoo sandbox.
21. Yara Rules
The classification of malware that is based on text or binary after they are analyzed by the Cuckoo tool is done by the tool called Yara. Pattern-based descriptions of malware are written using Yara. The tool is called Yara Rules because these descriptions are called rules. The abbreviation of Yara is Yet Another Recursive Acronym.
22. Google Rapid Response (GRR)
The Google Rapid Response framework analyzes the footprints left behind by malware at specific workstations. The researchers belonging to security ate google has developed this framework. The target system consists of an agent from Google Rapid Response, and the agent interacts with the server. After the server and agent are deployed, they become GRR clients and make the investigations on each system easier.
23. REMnux
This tool is designed to reverse engineer malware. It combines several tools into one to easily determine the malware based on windows and Linux. It is used to investigate the malware that is based on a browser, conduct forensics on memory, analyze varieties of malware, etc. The suspicious items can also be extracted and decoded using REMnux.
25. Bro
The framework of bro is powerful and is based on a network. The traffic in the network is converted into events, and that in turn can trigger the scripts. Bro is like an intrusion detection system (IDS), but its functionalities are better than the IDS. It is used for conducting forensics investigation, monitoring of networks, etc.
Conclusion
Malware analysis plays an important role in avoiding and determining cyber-attacks. The cybersecurity experts used to perform the malware analysis manually before fifteen years, and it was a time-consuming process, but now the experts in cybersecurity can analyze the lifecycle of malware using malware analysis tools, thereby increasing threat intelligence.
Recommended Articles
This is a guide to Malware Analysis Tools. Here we discuss some of the most commonly used tools like PEiD, Dependency Walker, Resource Hacker, etc. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –
