The advancement of the computer and internet technology has changed our lives, and it has revolutionized the way the organizations conduct businesses. However, technology evolution and digitization has given rise to cybercriminal activities. The growing threat of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, data centers, and private/public, defence, energy, government, and financial sectors poses a unique challenge for everyone from an individual to large corporations. These cyberattacks make use of malicious software (also known as Malware ) for financial theft, espionage, sabotage, intellectual property theft, and political motives.

With adversaries becoming sophisticated and carrying out advanced malware attacks, detecting and responding to such intrusions is critical for cybersecurity professionals. Malware analysis has become a must-have skill for fighting advanced malware and targeted attacks. Malware analysis requires a well-balanced knowledge of many different skills and subjects. In other words, learning malware analysis demands time and requires patience.

This book teaches the concepts, tools, and techniques to understand the behavior and characteristics of Windows malware using malware analysis. This book starts by introducing you to basic concepts of malware analysis. It then gradually progresses deep into more advanced concepts of code analysis and memory forensics. To help you understand the concepts better, various real-world malware samples, infected memory images, and visual diagrams are used in the examples throughout the book. In addition to this, enough information is given to help you understand the required concepts, and wherever possible, references to additional resources are provided for further reading.

If you are new to the field of malware analysis, this book should help you get started, or if you are experienced in this field, this book will help enhance your knowledge further. Although you are learning malware analysis to perform a forensic investigation, to respond to an incident, or for fun, this book enables you to accomplish your goals.