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Malware Analysis Crash Course

Mandiant, A FireEye Company | August 1-2 & 3-4



Overview

This course provides a rapid introduction to the tools and methodologies used to perform malware analysis on executables found on Windows systems using a practical, hands-on approach. Students will learn how to find the functionality of a program by analyzing disassembly and by watching how it modifies a system and its resources as it runs in a debugger. Students will learn how to extract host and network-based indicators from a malicious program. Students will be taught about dynamic analysis and the Windows APIs most often used by malware authors. Each section is filled with in-class demonstrations and hands-on labs with real malware where the students practice what they have learned. Students will receive a FREE copy of the book, "Practical Malware Analysis" written by Mike Sikorski.

What You Will Learn:

  • Hands-on malware dissection
  • How to create a safe malware analysis environment
  • How to quickly extract network and host-based indicators
  • How to perform dynamic analysis using system monitoring utilities to capture the file system, registry, and network activity generated by malware
  • How to debug malware and modify control flow and logic of software
  • To analyze assembly code after a crash course in the Intel x86 assembly language
  • Windows internals and APIs
  • How to use key analysis tools like IDA Pro and OllyDbg
  • What to look for when analyzing a piece of malware
  • The art of malware analysis - not just running tools

Who Should Take this Course

Software developers, information security professionals, incident responders, computer security researchers, puzzle lovers, corporate investigators, or others requiring an understanding of how malware works and the steps and processes involved in performing malware analysis.

Student Requirements

  • Excellent knowledge of computer and operating system fundamentals
  • Computer programming fundamentals and Windows Internals experience is highly recommended

What Students Should Bring

Students must bring their own laptop with VMware Workstation, Server, or Fusion installed (VMware Player is acceptable, but not recommended). Laptops should have at least 20GB of free space.

A licensed copy of IDA Pro is highly recommended to participate in ALL labs, but the free version can be used in most cases.

What Students Will Be Provided With

  • Student manual
  • Class handouts
  • MANDIANT gear

Trainers

Instructors will be determined and bios will be provided as we near the event; however, they will be from the pool of seasoned instructors we use year after year.