A Practical Approach To Malware Analysis, Hunting And Memory Forensics

$3,299.00

Duration

3 days

Delivery Method

in-person

Level

beginner

Seats Available

20

Duration

3 days

Delivery Method

in-person

Level

beginner

ATTEND IN-PERSON: Onsite in Bangkok, Thailand

DATE: 26-28 August 2024

TIME: 09:00 to 17:00 ICT/GMT+7

Date Day Time Duration
26 Aug Monday 0900-17:00 ICT/GMT+7 8 Hours
27 Aug Tuesday 0900-17:00 ICT/GMT+7 8 Hours
28 Aug Wednesday 0900-17:00 ICT/GMT+7 8 Hours

This hands-on training teaches concepts, techniques and tools to understand the behavior and characteristics of malware by combining two powerful techniques, malware analysis and memory forensics.

Malware analysis and memory forensics are powerful analysis and investigative techniques used in reverse engineering, digital forensics and incident response. Adversaries are becoming more sophisticated and carrying out advanced malware attacks on critical infrastructures, Data Centers, private and public organizations. This makes detecting, responding and investigating such intrusions increasingly critical for information security professionals. Malware analysis and memory forensics have become a must-have skill for fighting advanced malwares, targeted attacks and security breaches.

This course will introduce attendees to basics of malware analysis,reverse engineering, Windows internals and memory forensics. It will then gradually progress deeper into more advanced concepts of memory forensics.

This course uses hands-on labs using real world malware samples and infected memory images (Crimewares, APT malwares, Rootkits etc) to help attendees gain better understanding of the subject. The training also shows how these techniques can be incorporated in a sandbox to automate malware analysis. After taking this course attendees will be equipped with skill to analyze, investigate and respond to malware related incidents.

 

Students will be provided with:
  • Course material
  • Lab solution material
  • Videos used in the course
  • Malware samples used in the course/labs
  • Memory Images used in the course/labs
  • Custom Scripts
  • Linux VM (to be opened with VMware Workstation/Fusion) containing necessary tools and samples

 

Agenda
Day 1

Introduction to Malware Analysis

  • What is Malware
  • What they do
  • Why malware analysis
  • Types of malware analysis
  • Setting up an isolated lab environment

 

Static Analysis

  • Fingerprinting the malware
  • Extracting strings
  • Determining File obfuscation
  • Pattern matching using YARA
  • Fuzzing hashing & comparison
  • Understanding PE File characteristics
  • Disassembly
  • Hands-on lab exercise involves analyzing a real malware sample

 

Dynamic Analysis/Behavioural analysis

  • Dynamic Analysis Steps
  • Understanding Dynamic Analysis tools
  • Simulating services
  • Performing Dynamic Analysis
  • Monitoring process, filesystem, registry, and network activity
  • Determining the Indicators of compromise (host and network indicators)
  • Hands-on lab exercise involves analyzing a real malware sample

 

 Automating Malware Analysis(sandbox)

  • Custom Sandbox Overview
  • Working of Sandbox
  • Sandbox Features
  • Demo – Analyzing malware in the custom sandbox

 

Malware Persistence Methods

  • Run registry key
  • Scheduled Tasks
  • Startup Folder
  • Service
  • Winlogon registry entries
  • Image File Execution Options (IFEO)
  • Accessibility programs
  • AppInit_DLLs
  • DLL Search order hijacking
  • COM Hijacking
  • Hands-on lab exercise involves analyzing a real malware sample

 

Day 2

Code Analysis

  • Code Analysis Overview
  • Disassembler & Debuggers
  • Code Analysis Tools
  • Basics of IDA Pro
  • Basics of Ollydbg/x64dbg
  • Understanding the API calls
  • Reversing Malware functionalities(Downloader, dropper, keylogger, code injection, HTTP backdoor)
  •  Hands-on lab exercise involves analyzing a real malware sample

 

Introduction to Memory Forensics

  • What is Memory Forensics
  • Why Memory Forensics
  • Steps in Memory Forensics
  • Memory acquisition and tools
  • Acquiring memory From physical machine
  • Acquiring memory from the virtual machine
  • The hands-on exercise involves acquiring the memory

 

Volatility Overview

  • Introduction to Volatility Advanced Memory Forensics Framework
  • Volatility Installation
  • Volatility basic commands
  • Determining the profile
  • Volatility help options
  • Running the plugin

 

Investigating Process

  • Understanding Process Internals
  • Process(EPROCESS) Structure
  • Process organization
  • Process Enumeration by walking the double linked list
  • Process relationship (parent-child relationship)
  • Understanding DKOM attacks
  • Process Enumeration using pool tag scanning
  • Volatility plugins to enumerate processes
  • Identifying malware process
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory

 

Investigating Process handles & Registry

  • Objects and handles overview
  • Enumerating process handles using Volatility
  • Understanding Mutex
  • Detecting malware presence using a mutex
  • Understanding the Registry
  • Investigating common registry keys using Volatility
  • Detecting malware persistence
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory

 

Day 3


Investigating Network Activities

  • Understanding malware network activities
  • Volatility Network Plugins
  • Investigating Network connections
  • Investigating Sockets
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory

 

Investigation Process Memory

  • Process memory Internals
  • Listing DLLs using Volatility
  • Identifying hidden DLLs
  • Dumping malicious executable from memory
  • Dumping Dll’s from memory
  • Scanning the memory for patterns(yarascan)
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory

 

Investigating User-Mode Rootkits & Fileless Malwares

  • Code Injection
  • Types of Code injection
  • Remote DLL injection
  • Remote Code injection
  • Reflective DLL injection
  • Hollow process injection
  • Demo – Case Study
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory

 

Memory Forensics in Sandbox technology

  • Sandbox Overview
  • Integrating Memory Forensics into a sandbox
  • Demo – showing the use of memory forensics in a custom sandbox

 

Investigating Kernel-Mode Rootkits

  • Understanding Rootkits
  • Understanding Functional call traversal in Windows
  • Level of Hooking/Modification on Windows
  • Kernel Volatility plugins
  • Hands-on lab exercise(scenario-based) involves investigating malware infected memory
  • Demo – Rootkit Investigation

 

Memory Forensic Case Studies

  • Demo – Hunting an APT malware from Memory

Why You Should Take This Course

This course features hands-on labs that use real world malware samples and infected memory images (Crimewares, APT malwares, Rootkits etc) to help attendees gain better understanding of the subject. After taking this course attendees will be equipped with skill to analyze, investigate and respond to malware related incidents.

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for anyone interested in learning malware analysis and memory forensics.
This includes:
  • forensic practitioners
  • incident responders
  • cyber security investigators
  • malware analysts
  • system administrators
  • software developers
  • students and
  • curious security professionals new to this field

Key Learning Objectives

  • How malware and Windows internals work

  • How to create a safe and isolated lab environment for malware analysis

  • What are the techniques and tools to perform malware anlaysis

  • How to perform static analysis to determine the metadata associated with malware

  • How to perform dynamic analysis of the malware to determine its interaction with process,filesystem, registry and network

  • How to perform code analysis to determine the malware functionality

  • How to debug a malware using tools like IDA pro, Ollydbg/Immunity debugger

  • What is Memory Forensics and its use in malware and digital investigation

  • Ability to acquire a memory image from suspect/infected systems

  • How to use open source advanced memory forensics framework (Volatility)

  • Understanding of the techniques used by Rootkits(code injection, hooking etc)

  • Investigative steps for detecting stealth and advanced malware

  • How memory forensics helps in malware analysis and reverse engineering

  • How to incorporate malware analysis and memory forensics in sandbox

  • How to determine the network and host based indicators (IOC)

  • Techniques to Hunt Malwares
  • Prerequisite Knowledge

    The course assumes no prior knowledge of the subject and starts from the basics and slowly progresses towards advanced topics.
    – Students Should be familiar with using Windows/Linux
    – Students Should have an understanding of programming concepts, while programming experience is not mandatory.
    – Students Should have basic understanding of malware and its role in cyber attacks

    Hardware / Software Requirements

    – Laptop with minimum 6GB RAM and 40GB free hard disk space
    – Laptop with USB ports – lab samples, and custom Linux VM will be shared via USB sticks
    – VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion (even trial versions can be used).
    – Windows Operating system (preferably Windows 10 64-bit, even Windows 8 and Windows 7 versions are fine) installed inside the VMware Workstation/Fusion. Students must have full administrator access for the Windows operating system installed inside the VMware Workstation/Fusion.
     
    Note: VMware Player or VirtualBox is not suitable for this training.

    Your Instructor

    Monnappa K A is a Security professional with over 15 years of experience in incident response and investigation. He previously worked for Microsoft & Cisco as a threat hunter mainly focusing on threat hunting, investigation, and research of advanced cyber attacks.

    He is the author of the best-selling book “Learning Malware Analysis.”He is the review board member for Black Hat Asia, Black Hat USA, Black Hat Europe. He is the creator of Limon Linux sandbox and the winner of the Volatility plugin contest 2016. He is the co-founder of the cybersecurity research community “Cysinfo” (https://www.cysinfo.com).

    He has conducted training sessions on malware analysis, reverse engineering, and memory forensics at Black Hat, BruCON, HITB, FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams), SEC-T, OPCDE, and 4SICS-SCADA/ICS cybersecurity summit. He has presented at various security conferences, including Black Hat, FIRST, SEC-T, 4SICS-SCADA/ICS summit, DSCI, National Cyber Defence Summit, and Cysinfo meetings on various topics related to memory forensics, malware analysis, reverse engineering, and rootkit analysis.  He has also authored various articles in eForensics and Hakin9 magazines. You can find some of his contributions to the community in his YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/c/MonnappaKA), and you can read his blog posts at https://cysinfo.com

    What students say about this training:

    “It is an excellent Malware introductory course which helps me to learn basic ideas and provide a guideline for further study in the future”

    “Well organised & run”

    “Particularly appreciative of how the course materials were well-prepared, and how informative [the] explanations were”

    “Great course. Next time I would like to be on site.”