Analyzing and identifying patterns in files

An essential part of creating YARA rules is the identification of patterns in the files we want to search. There are several tools that can help us with this; in this case, we will use a tool known as PeStudio.

Downloading PeStudio

PeStudio is a tool to analyze files with a portable executable (PE) structure, for instance, Windows files with the .exe, .dll, and .bin extensions. You can find more details about the PE structure at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format.

To download and install PeStudio, follow these steps:

1. Download the free version directly from https://www.winitor.com/download.
2. From the Downloads directory, right-click on the pestudio.zip file and select Extract All….
3. Click on the Browse… button and navigate to the C:\Users\Investigator\Workspace\Tools directory.
4. Click on the Extract button.

The preceding steps are shown in the following screenshot:

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