CS4648 Software Reverse Engineering and Malware Analysis

This course will explore how malware is constructed through reverse engineering and analysis of malicious code. Techniques to perform dynamic behavioral analysis and static examination of program control flow and properties will be discussed. Malware analysis topics include: obfuscation, stealth, persistence, propagation, network communications for command & control, anti-analysis (anti-debugging, anti-disassembly, anti-virtualization), code injection, and process hollowing. Reverse engineering involves disassembling and analyzing binary executables to determine the techniques used by the malware to achieve its mission. Attack campaigns by known advanced persistent threats. (APTs) will be used in case studies.

Prerequisite

CS3070 and CS3140 or Consent of the Instructor

Lecture Hours

3

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

The student will be able to:

• Describe obfuscation techniques.
• Describe stealth and persistence mechanisms.
• Describe anti-analysis (anti-debugging, anti-disassembly, anti-virtualization) techniques.
• Describe code injection and process hollowing techniques.
• Describe process to reverse engineer binary executables.
• Describe process to perform static analysis.
• Describe process to perform dynamic analysis.
• Describe communications channels.
• Understand APTs, propagation vectors, and attribution.