What is a Malware Analyst?

Malware Analysts analyze different types of malware to understand the threat they pose. This can include identifying the capabilities of the malware, how the malware functions, and identifying indicators of compromise (IOCs) that can be used to identify the malware. Other job titles you may see include malware reverse engineer, principal reverse engineer, and security researcher. A solid background in programming, networking, system administration, and operating systems is helpful for malware analyst roles.

Malware analysts also need to stay current on the latest threats. It is extremely helpful to have some knowledge of assembly language as you progress in your malware analyst career.

There are typically two types of malware analysts:

• Escalation malware analysts: They work with incident response (IR) teams and analyze malware samples to determine the functionality of the malware, what it might have done on the system, and artifacts ...