As a very minimum, this book requires strong IT knowledge. We have done our best to explain all important terms and notions so the reader won't have to switch back and forth between the book and the internet, but some topics covered may be quite advanced with a high level of technical detail. Therefore, any reverse engineering experience, while not mandatory, will be an advantage.
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packt.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packt.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.
You can download the code files by following these steps:
- Log in or register at www.packt.com.
- Select the SUPPORT tab.
- Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
- Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.
Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:
- WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
- Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
- 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux
The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Mastering-Malware-Analysis. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789610789_ColorImages.pdf.
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "One of these techniques is by using NtGlobalFlag."
A block of code is set as follows:
mov qword ptr [rsp+8],rcx
mov qword ptr [rsp+10h],rdx
mov qword ptr [rsp+18h],r8
mov qword ptr [rsp+20h],r9
pushfq
sub rsp,30h
cli
mov rcx,qword ptr gs:[20h]
add rcx,120h
call nt!RtlCaptureContext
Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
.shell -ci "uf /c nt!IopLoadDriver" grep -B 1 -i "call.*ptr \[.*h"
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "It can be restored by selecting the View | Graph Overview option."