A cybersecurity analyst is tasked with analyzing a suspicious executable file recovered from a compromised system. The goal is to understand the malware's behavior, such as its communication protocols and persistence mechanisms, without access to the original source code. Which of the following techniques should the analyst primarily use?
Reverse engineering is the process of analyzing a system or software to understand its design, architecture, and functionality when the source code is unavailable. It is the primary method used to analyze the behavior of malware from an executable file. Fuzzing is an automated testing technique that involves providing invalid or unexpected data to a program to find crashes and vulnerabilities, not to understand its overall logic. Static code analysis typically refers to the analysis of source code, which is unavailable in this scenario. While some static analysis can be performed on binaries (e.g., disassembly), reverse engineering is the broader, more appropriate term for the analyst's goal. Port scanning is a network reconnaissance technique used to identify open ports on a host, which is irrelevant to analyzing the internal workings of a file.
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What methods are commonly used in reverse engineering to detect vulnerabilities?
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What role does reverse engineering play in understanding malware?
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How does reverse engineering differ from regular software testing?