Project Group: Malware Boot Camp - Worms, Bots, Virii and Trojans

Other:

• Term: Bachelor Computer Science
• Requirements: Systemoriented Programming, Systemoriented Computer Science
• Faculty: BA-INF 051
• Effort: 10.0 CP
• Max. Participants: 8
• Exams: to be announced (around mid of May)

• Description

Dates & Schedule

Organization

The Malware Boot Camp consists of both practical hands-on experience in our malware lab as well as reporting the results in presentations and reports.

Lab

The Malware Boot Camp starts with a 3-day to one-week tutorial on malware analysis. The tutorial introduces basic analysis techniques and points out possible difficulties and how to deal with them. During the tutorial, different malware samples are taken apart to analyze spreading, infection and communication details. All students work together to get as much out of the samples as possible.

Following the tutorial is a dedicated lab project. The students work in groups of two. Each group is assigned a dedicated lab project that is to be solved during a 4-week full-time lab. During these projects, new approaches are to be investigated and new means for malware analysis are to be developed. Different topics from automated analysis to the improvement of tools for reverse engineering are available and can be selected by the students.

Presentations

An important part of malware analysis is the presentation and discussion of findings and results. During the Malware Boot Camp the students will learn how to present their results and how to discuss difficulties and solutions amongst all teams.

At the beginning of the tutorial, each student presents a brief overview of a selected topics, like rootkits, packers, virus scanners, or obfuscation techniques. Max time for the presentation is 15 minutes.

Before the lab project starts, each team presents its dedicated project, the goals, existing approaches, and solutions the team going to try. A short summary of 1-3 pages is to be written.

During the 4-week lab project, each student holds a weekly report of 5 - 10 minutes to present his findings and to discuss diffuculties and possible solutions. Besides the presentations, a short paper of less than one page is to be written that describes these aspects.

After the lab project, a report about the lab project and major results has to be written. The report will be around 10 - 20 pages.

The examination is a final presentation on the lab project of around 20 - 30 minutes.