GREM Malware Analysis Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Question 1

An analyst is performing static analysis on a suspected malicious executable. Which of the following activities would they most likely perform during this phase?

Accepted Answer

Examining the Portable Executable (PE) header to identify imported DLLs and functions.

Answer

Running the executable in a sandboxed environment to monitor network traffic.

Answer

Executing the file and observing which processes it launches.

Answer

Setting breakpoints in a debugger to step through the code's execution flow.

Question 2

A malware analyst observes a program making calls to `RegSetValueExA`, `CreateServiceA`, and writing a file to the `C:\Windows\System32` directory. This behavior is most indicative of which malware characteristic?

Accepted Answer

Persistence

Answer

Data exfiltration

Answer

Lateral movement

Answer

Obfuscation

Question 3

During dynamic analysis, you notice that a malware sample first calls `IsDebuggerPresent` and then immediately terminates if the API call returns true. Which of the following best describes this technique?

Accepted Answer

Anti-analysis

Answer

Packing

Answer

Code injection

Answer

Polymorphism

Question 4

An analyst encounters a piece of malware that has been disguised using a simple, single-byte XOR operation to hide its strings and configuration data. Which of the following is the most effective and common first step to reverse this obfuscation?

Accepted Answer

Perform a brute-force attack by XORing the data with every possible key from 0x00 to 0xFF.

Answer

Use a disassembler to trace the decryption logic.

Answer

Run the malware and capture the decrypted strings from memory.

Answer

Apply a Base64 decoding algorithm to the data.

Question 5

Which section of a Windows Portable Executable (PE) file typically contains the program's executable code?

Accepted Answer

.text

Answer

.rsrc

Answer

.data

Answer

.reloc

Question 6

A malware analyst is tasked with understanding the high-level behavior of a suspicious file without executing it, focusing on its potential capabilities. Which analysis technique would be most appropriate as a first step?

Accepted Answer

Static analysis

Answer

Behavioral analysis

Answer

Dynamic analysis

Answer

Hybrid analysis