These tools gather primary information about a file. The data gathered includes the filename, file size, file type, and file type-specific properties. The result of these tools enables the analyst to plan how to analyze the file:
- PEiD: A tool used to identify the file type, the packer, and compiler. It is built to run in Windows. It is not maintained, but still very useful.
- TrID: A command-line tool similar to PEiD. This tool has Windows and Linux versions. It can read a community-driven signature database of various file types.
- CFF Explorer: This tool is primarily used to read and make edits in a PE format file. It runs under Windows and has a lot of features, such as listing processes and dumping processes to a file. ...