Malware Analysis

YARA is the pattern-matching language of malware analysis. Writing rules is easy; writing rules that survive the next sample variant is hard. This guide focuses on the second. The Rule Structure rule Example_Detection { meta: description = "Detects Example loader v3" author = "CyberSecurity Elite" date = "2026-04-14" hash = "f3b1...c7e9" reference = "https://example.com/report" tlp = "white" strings: $s1 = "C2_BEACON_HEADER" ascii wide $s2 = { 48 8b ?? ?? 48 89 ?? E8 [4] 85 C0 } $s3 = /api\/v[0-9]\/(checkin|exec)/ ascii nocase condition: uint16(0) == 0x5A4D and 2 of them } Three string types — text, hex with wildcards/jumps, and regex. The condition is what makes the rule precise. ...

Ghidra is the open-source disassembler that broke IDA Pro’s monopoly. The decompiler is genuinely competitive, scripting is friendly (Python and Java), and it costs nothing. This tutorial walks through a realistic malware triage workflow. Setting Up a Safe Lab Before opening anything malicious: ...