Malware analysis professional has abilities to examine malicious software that involve bots, worms, and trojans. However, this task is usually followed by reverse-engineering which is the process of compiling an executable and examining how the program interacts with its environment. That is why sometimes a malware analyst is also called a reverse engineer. Further, there are other various tasks that they perform.
Responsibilities
- Malware analysis professionals develop novel solutions and support the company’s research and development efforts.
- They also partner with the incident response team for understanding the incidents as well as for supporting technical analysis of malicious cyber security events.
- Malware analysis professionals communicate with representatives of the Lines of Business, technology specialists. Moreover, they review threat information and maintain a threat repository.
- Lastly, they also do the research work and develop methods of tracking and analyze and evaluate malicious code behavior
So, let’s get started with the in-depth details and resources to become a Certified Malware Analysis Professional
Vskills Certified Malware Analysis Professional
Malware analysis refers to the study of determining the functionality and potential impact of a given malware sample. This can be a virus, worm, trojan horse, rootkit, or backdoor. However, the Vskills Malware Analysis Professional certification course is best fit for professionals and graduates who want to excel in their chosen areas. That is to say, after earning the Vskills Malware Analysis Professional Certification, candidates will gain advanced skills and knowledge that can help them to differentiate in today’s competitive job market.
Furthermore, this will also provide benefits to job seekers who want to enhance their career in IT security, or IT departments.
Vskills certification providers give candidates access to top exams as well as provides exam benefits. This includes:
- The certifications will have a Government verification tag.
- The Certification is valid for life.
- Candidates will get lifelong e-learning access.
- Access to free Practice Tests.
- Candidates will get tagged as ‘Vskills Certified’ On Monsterindia.com and ‘Vskills Certified’ On Shine Shine.com.
Course Outline
Certified Malware Analysis Professional covers the following topics –
Malware Analysis Basics and Lab Setup
- What Is Malware and the Need for Malware Analysis
- Types of Malware
- Malware Analysis Methodology
- How to Set Up Your Lab?
- Why a Snapshot Is Useful?
- Some Warnings
Dynamic Malware Analysis
- Why Dynamic Analysis?
- Monitoring System Processes
- Analyzing Network Traffic
- Detecting Local Changes
- What Is a Debugger?
- Basic Features of OllyDbg
- Malware Analysis Using OllyDbg
Static Malware Analysis
- Why Static Analysis?
- x86 Instruction Set
- Introduction to File Formats
- Extracting Useful Information from Malware Binary
- Finding Imports and Linked Files
- How a Disassembler Can Help Us?
- Basic Features of IDA Pro
- Malware Analysis Using IDA Pro
Malware Evasion Techniques
- Anti-Debugging
- Anti-Disassembly
- Anti-Virtual Machines
- Data Encoding
- Polymorphism
- More Evasion Techniques
Malware Functionalities
- Backdoors
- Keyloggers and Information Stealers
- Downloaders
- Ransomware
- Rootkits
Malware Advanced Techniques
- Privilege Escalation
- Persistence Methods
- Data Encoding
- Covert Launching Techniques
Advanced Dynamic Malware Analysis
- Using a Debugger
- An Overview of the Windows Environment
- User Mode Debugging
- Malware Analysis Using OllyDbg
- Features of OllyDbg
- Kernel Mode Debugging
- Malware Analysis Using WINDBG
- Features of WINDBG
Advanced Static Malware Analysis
- Advanced Notes on the x86 Architecture
- How a Disassembler Can Help Us
- Loading and Navigating Using IDA Pro
- Functions in IDA
- IDA Pro Graphic Features
- Analysing Malware Using IDA Pro
Malware Detection and Defence
- Malware Detection Techniques
- Steps to Clean a Compromised Network
- How Intrusion Detection Systems Work
- An Introduction to Snort
- How to Setup Snort?
Evasive Malware
- How Do Packers Work?
- How to Detect Packed Malware?
- How to Unpack a Malware Program?
- Examples of Unpacking a Malware Program
Preparation Guide for Vskills Certified Malware Analysis Professional
Now that we have an understanding of the basic pattern for the certification exam let’s move on to the preparation resources. Candidates at this point should start researching for the best available study resources to start the preparation in a mannered way. However, a preparation guide basically refers to the essential resources and study materials required for the exam. Further, this will also help them to understand and learn things easily. Talking about the Certified Malware Analysis Professional exam, below are the resources provided by Vskills that will help candidates to cover all the concepts and prepare well for the exam.
Get Familiar Exam Objectives
Getting understanding and familiarity with the Exam objectives will provide candidates a clear way to enhance their level of knowledge. As the Exam objectives provide a brief about the exam contents that includes various sections and subsections. So, Candidates should get all details about exam objectives to get a better understanding of the content and topics related to the exam. However, for Certified Malware Analysis Professional, the topics include –
- Malware Analysis Basics and Lab Setup
- Dynamic Malware Analysis
- Static Malware Analysis
- Malware Evasion Techniques
- Malware Functionalities
- Malware Advanced Techniques
- Advanced Dynamic Malware Analysis
- Advanced Static Malware Analysis
- Malware Detection and Defence
- Evasive Malware
Vskills E-Learning
E-learning has now become a modern way to prepare for the exam. However, Vskills E-learning study method for Certified Malware Analysis Professional helps candidates to get a better understanding of the content by providing them the online learning material for a lifetime. This learning material comes with hard copy material that will help them in improving skills and staying up to date with the learning curve for getting better opportunities.
Reference Books for better understanding
Those Candidates who want to get in-depth details for the topic or content can take references from the books related to the exam. That is to say, reference books can be helpful for understanding concepts and topics fastly. However, for the Certified Malware Analysis Professional exam, there are various books available which you can find online or in libraries. Some of the books are as follows:
- Learning Malware Analysis book by K A Monnappa
- Practical Malware Analysis book by Sikorski Michael
Evaluate yourself with Practice Test
Practice tests can be considered as an essential part of the tutorial. That is to say, we all have heard there is success without practicing. Similarly to get certified it is important for candidates to start examining themselves using the Practice tests. This will help them to learn about their weak areas as well as they can work on their answering skills. Moreover, taking assessments after the completion of the topic will make their knowledge level more advance. So, get yourself prepared and become certified.
