I have found some software on 1337 that a friend was asking for. It’s for Windows and I’m on Linux. Is test running the software inside a VM the only way to securely vet it (to see what connections it tries to make and what processes it starts)? On VirusTotal, I get one positive and 66 negatives. Preferably, I’d like to hand over the software without worrying about giving them malicious code…
VirusTotal is probably the best you can do. Although, I think it belongs to Amazon or some big company now after being bought up.
what software is this?
i think you can use appdoze cracks. they’ve had malware incidents at least once iirc but still considered mostly trustworthy as they got rid of the offending upload and stuff.
theres any.run but it needs an account
One thing to remember with VirusTotal is that it should only be used as a “tool of consensus”. A lot of AV solutions on their list will false flag binaries presumably to instill fear and get people to buy their solutions over more reputable AV providers. You want the AV that works the best which many people would equate to the most flagging (as logically incomplete as that may be).
If you are seeing 66 flags and many of those being from reputable vendors, then I would say that what they show is likely accurate. Accuracy and relevance being two different things. 100% accuracy on keygen tools doesn’t mean that it is a relevant flag to what you’re trying to do.
You could try software solutions like LOKI (the IoC scanner) or Azul to test specific binaries, though. I believe LOKI is just doing static analysis, but Azul I know automates the sandboxing.
You can also put it through sandboxes like joesandbox or cuckoo to try to trigger and detect a payload. But some malware will expect this and not execute.
Ultimately, judge your own risk tolerance by how much you trust the source, how much you want the software, what kind of systems protection you have in place (antivirus, antimalware, permissions control, backups), and how much you can afford to have your system compromised.
Run them on your mate’s PC first
Normally I would get turned on by that, but I’m trying to be a nice person.
Run it on a rival colleague’s PC.
Step 1: make an enemy for life
Step 2: copy questionable .exe to their pc
Step 3: ???
Step 4: profit
“but my enemy runs linux!”
VirusTotal also tells you a load of stuff about file read/writes and network access etc. What did it say? And what was the positive result for?
Holy crap, I had no idea! Cool!
The one positive is a malicious.high.ml.score by Trapmine and I can’t makes heads or tails of it.
Domains e592.d.akamaiedge.net www.msn.com www.msn.com.edgekey.net IP 23.50.32.0/20 (owned by Akamai Technologies, Inc.) Execution Parents Crack 29.2.ZIPNone of these sub categories under Relations give any positives.
That doesn’t look suspicious to me.
Stupid question, but why can’t your friend not just run it in sandboxie with internet locked down?
No noticeable performance drain, can’t cause too much damage.
Or isn’t this enough?
Absolutely NOT a stupid question! 😊 They are not very tech savvy 🥺
The title had me very confused for a few seconds. “Are you talking about cows? Why would they need to be executed? And why would they need vets before execution?”
God this genuinely made me laugh. Thanks!
You can also acquire the original executable, and compare the differences in a binary/hex editor. VM runs would be after you have sanitized the EXE.
If you have the executable from a trusted source, then you don’t need to spend your time determining if a version you got from an unsafe location is legitimate, you’d just make a copy of the trusted original and throw out the bootleg to be safe.
In theory I agree, but other than buying the original executable from a reputable vendor, I have no way of verifying the integrity and authenticity of the EXE.
ask someone that bought the executable to lend you theirs.
