Malware Forensics

Introduction

Over the past year, the number of programs developed for malicious and illegal purposes has grown rapidly. The 2008 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report announced that there are over one million computer viruses in circulation, most developed in the past 12 months.¹ Other antivirus vendors, including F-Secure, report a similarly dramatic increase in the number of viruses emerging since 2007.² In the past, malicious code has been categorized neatly (e.g., viruses, worms, or Trojan Horses) based upon functionality and attack vector. Today, malware is often modular and multi-faceted; instead of fitting squarely into a certain category, many malware specimens represent more of a “blended-threat,” with diverse functionality and varied ...