Ask HN: Recommendations for malware analysis books

8 points by king_mob 11y ago ↗ HN

I'm currently a sysadmin, with limited c/python programming (mostly scripting if im honest) however recently my job has been dealing more and more with very nuanced malware threats to our infrastructure (we are a web hosting company). I'd like to be able to understand these threats better on a fundamental level, and as with anything i'd like to get some textbooks to help round out whatever practical things i attempt in a VM. What are the good "go to" texts for this particular area of security?

5 comments

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just_for_moment 11y ago ↗

Practical Malware Analysis - book by Michael Sikorski and Andrew Honig

king_mob 11y ago ↗

Any particular reason behind that choice?

dpeck 11y ago ↗

The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense, slightly dated at this point, but very good information and you'll probably need some good historical grounding to do anything useful today.

http://smile.amazon.com/The-Computer-Virus-Research-Defense/...

MalcolmDiggs 11y ago ↗

A bit off topic since you're looking for textbooks, but worth a mention if you're looking for up-to-date material:

The annual DEFCON conference started today in Vegas. Sometimes there are bleeding-edge topics presented, sometimes not. But regardless, I'm sure a few talks will make their way to youtube in the next few days. There are a few malware-centered talks scheduled that may be of particular interest to you. See their schedule here: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-22/dc-22-schedule.html

king_mob 11y ago ↗

Thanks malcom, to be honest im actually looking for things that help me move from my modest scripting background in system administration into understanding the actual systems programming level that malware operates at. Linux Systems Programming is a book i just picked up for example, so something that goes closer to the metal rather than the advanced stuff is what im after. Thanks a lot for the tip though.