The idea of a self-replicating computer program it thought to have originated with computer scientist John von Neumann. However, Scientific American reports that Bell Labs brought that hypothesis to life in the 1950s with the conception of a game called “Core Wars” (which wasn’t released until 1984). Now, decades later, we have cybercriminals encrypting files via malware, disrupting networks and exfiltrating data.  

Malware is any piece of software that’s harmful to your system — worms, viruses, trojans, spyware, etc. Discovering them continues to be a challenge as attackers are writing increasingly sophisticated programs to evade detection. Malware analysis can help you to determine if a suspicious file is indeed malicious, study its origin, process, capabilities, and assess its impact to facilitate detection and prevention.