Reverse Engineering: How to create a Basic Environment for Malware Analysis oriented to Undergraduate Students

Cyber security is increasingly important for defending computer systems from loss of privacy or unauthorized access and use. Particularly, one aspect that should be considered is Security Education, specifically Malware Analysis because while security administrators are required to protect and patch all the security holes in a network, an attacker only requires a failure, a vulnerability or neglect to hack a System using sophisticated malware infections. It is evident then, the disadvantage between preventing all possible chances of having an attack, and facing a real attack when malware is involved if the administrator does not know the ways of infiltration that an attacker can use. On the other hand, there have been many international certifications in information security topics, and even trainings by security companies, offered to SMEs, but security topics, especially in malware analysis, have not been considered in the student curricula in careers related with IT Security. Hence, this article proposes a way to create a basic environment with simple resources for students that are interested in entering to the world of malware analysis.