Analyzing Malware Safely: A Virtual Lab for Cybersecurity Research

Evan Brown, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in Computer Science 

For my capstone I created a virtual malware analysis lab, with the objective of having a fully functional and safe environment to run and analyze malware without any risk of causing real damage. Cybersecurity is my passion, and it is a vast and changing field. On my journey, I realized I had yet to uncover the world of malware analysis, which sparked my curiosity. I used to watch YouTube videos of detonation of malware, but now I could do it myself.

Malware and cyber threats continue to evolve, which makes it so important to have analysis in order to develop the proper counter measures and awareness. I had some general knowledge of how I would go about setting this kind of lab up beforehand. I knew I would need virtual machines, which are software computers inside your actual computer, to keep the effects of the malware isolated. I also knew there were a lot of safety precautions I would have to take and thoroughly familiarize myself with.

 

Once I chose the virtual machines I would be using, the setup process turned out to be long and challenging. Many of the tools I needed were sensitive downloads which led to many things going wrong. Any issue in a single download could lead to hours of troubleshooting. Many things did not download properly, were outdated, or were not available anymore entirely. These problems were frustrating, but I didn’t let it deter me and I eventually was able to set up everything that I wanted, or made compromises when I had to. That was the least fun part of the project, and I was glad to get it out of the way early.

 

The rest of the setup dealt with setting up a private network for the virtual machines, which didn’t cause too many problems. Surprisingly, once everything was set up, the rest of the safety precautions were easy to put in place and remember, relieving me slightly of the stress of beginning to run real world malware. I didn’t detonate my first piece of malware until I was absolutely sure it was properly isolated and safe. Despite my confidence and triple-checks that everything was ready, the first time was extremely nerve-wracking. After that however, it became easier and easier. Thankfully there have been no accidents so far.

 

The next major step was to learn how to analyze this malware I could now safely run. This was a very fun process to learn the techniques, and then immediately put them into use on my own desktop, which was incredibly rewarding.

 

The greatest part about this capstone is that there is no end to the techniques I can learn, and malware I can analyze. I may have the fundamentals down, but there is so much more to explore. With my lab fully operational, I can now focus entirely on expanding my knowledge. Overall this was an extremely insightful project opening a brand-new door to cybersecurity and a potential career field. My use of this lab is far from over, as I continue to expand my expertise in this field.