Similarity analysis tools
Now that we have examined similarity grouping from a top-level standpoint, let's examine the different toolsets that can be used to perform similarity grouping practically. First, let's examine the ever-popular tool known as YARA.
YARA
When analyzing malware, researchers will often identify unique patterns and strings within the malware that helps them identify and group by the malware family, threat group, or campaign that those samples belong to or relate to. The researcher will commonly create a YARA rule from several samples of the same malware family to help identify additional malware samples associated with the same campaign, actor group, or malware family.
YARA has several use cases, but we'll focus on the three primary use cases for any threat intelligence professional:
- Identify and classify malware
- Find new and related samples based on family-specific patterns
- Identify malware samples on compromised devices...