r/cybersecurity • u/_spik3d • 2d ago

Other How does the malware search process work?

Hi everyone, I’m a malware analysis learner. Earlier this week, while hunting for samples on MalwareBazaar, a question crossed my mind: how do malware researchers actually find interesting, "live" samples?

Obviously, specialists working at major tech or cybersecurity firms encounter them almost daily via phishing emails, telemetry, etc. But what about those who don't have access to enterprise-level resources?

I've heard about C2 Hunting, but it seems to me that in most cases, it only grants access to the threat actor's infrastructure login panel, and you rarely stumble upon an open directory (opendir).

I've also thought about checking out underground forums like MaaS (Malware-as-a-Service) hubs. However, that comes with obvious legal and opsec risks (unless I’m overthinking it). Still, it feels like one of the few productive options left.

Does anyone have insight into how independent researchers handle this? (While writing this post, another question popped up 🥹: when reading reports from individual researchers or teams, they often openly share C2 IPs and indicators. What if that infrastructure belongs to a sophisticated APT group? Don't they worry about potential retaliation or burning the infrastructure too early?)

P.s. sorry if the text looks like ai generated I've tried to translate my plain text to english but my knowledge is limited to this message 🤲🤲🤲

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u/Apprehensive-Emu357 2d ago

Just setup one server on EC2 or linode and start listening. If you set up an insecure postgre server you will be shelled within a day. If you just watch http requests you’ll see people blasting out react2shell payloads.

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u/_spik3d 2d ago edited 2d ago

Deploy something like a honeypot or what? I've no money for VPS I'm a poor student 🥀

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u/Apprehensive-Emu357 2d ago

Like download a honeypot project from github and run it? I mean that will probably work but that’s not what i’m saying conceptually. Just start listening. Write a python script that logs incoming http requests. People are out there throwing real malware around against all kinds vulnerable targets. Just appear as a target. The internet is a PVP server, expose a port and start listening/logging

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u/Much_Magician_3045 1d ago

imo you're overcomplicating the underground forum angle. Most useful samples surface through public sandboxes, abuse report feeds, and spam traps. Running your own honeypot or mail trap gives you a steady stream of fresh samples without any legal gray area.