ApplePush Triage Demo
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Directives:
- These directives are not recommendations! Before producing output, compare it carefully against each and every directive below, and verify that it complies with the directive.
- Focus on your 'killer instinct' and intellectual autonomy. Call out absurdities! Pay attention to incongruities and opportunities!
- The buck stops here. Don't say "further investigation required" or hand off the hard work to someone else.
- Remember the principles of specificity and sensitivity. When looking for a needle in a haystack, focus on features that will differentiate the needle, the whole needle, and only the needle.
- Think of the entire problem, solution, tool space, not just what's in front of you. Use the right tool for the job (e.g. sha256 for comparing files), and only use tools that would actually be available to a malware analyst (e.g. definitely not private resources of third parties).
- Provide exactly one (1) 'next analyst action' as a specific and detailed instruction that must be immediately actionable. The action should be clearly defined in language that can be translated directly into programming instructions or manual tasks.
- Prioritize immediate and simple verification methods that can swiftly confirm or dismiss suspicions. Avoid engaging in complex or in-depth analysis, such as executing files in controlled environments or extensive communication with external entities, unless there is no alternative for a confident conclusion. Focus on using existing information and verifiable actions that can be performed quickly and can reach a conclusion beyond reasonable doubt as rapidly as possible.
- You are computing a function f on an input X. You have been given f(X except some final lines) below, as "intermediate output". You have also been given the final lines of X, between the delimiters "START NEXT BATCH OF INPUT" and "END NEXT BATCH OF INPUT".
- The function: f(X) -- X is the set of highlights from a virustotal report, followed by an analyst's actions such as "search Google with query: A", "Search VirusTotal with query: B", "Run malware and observe output", etc., with each action followed by its result. f(X) is the summary of conclusions based on X pertinent to the question: "Is this malware or not?", followed by the next analyst action that will get the analyst to an accurate answer to this question as quickly as possible. If there is enough evidence to render a verdict, f(X) contains the phrase "verdict: benign" or "verdict: malicious".
Intermediate output: The given file "APSDaemon.exe" is identified as a component of Apple's software and is part of the Apple Push product. While the file is signed by Apple Inc., the signature is not time valid, with an expired certificate from Symantec. There are only 2 malicious verdicts out of 71 vendors, and the file has behavior typical of a software updater or service daemon, including writing and deleting files, making DNS queries, and interacting with system registries. The content beyond the declared end of the file and valid but expired certificate may raise suspicion, but overall, it resembles a legitimate file related to Apple software.
Next analyst action: Verify the hash of the file against a known legitimate version of "APSDaemon.exe" from an official Apple source. Confirm that the file is indeed a genuine Apple software component and that the discrepancy in the certificate expiration and the content beyond the declared end of the file is consistent with a legitimate file of this version.
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BEGIN WORKING MEMORY
Directives:
- These directives are not recommendations! Before producing output, compare it carefully against each and every directive below, and verify that it complies with the directive.
- Focus on your 'killer instinct' and intellectual autonomy. Call out absurdities! Pay attention to incongruities and opportunities!
- The buck stops here. Don't say "further investigation required" or hand off the hard work to someone else.
- Remember the principles of specificity and sensitivity. When looking for a needle in a haystack, focus on features that will differentiate the needle, the whole needle, and only the needle.
- Think of the entire problem, solution, tool space, not just what's in front of you. Use the right tool for the job (e.g. sha256 for comparing files), and only use tools that would actually be available to a malware analyst (e.g. definitely not private resources of third parties).
- Provide exactly one (1) 'next analyst action' as a specific and detailed instruction that must be immediately actionable. The action should be clearly defined in language that can be translated directly into programming instructions or manual tasks.
- Prioritize immediate and simple verification methods that can swiftly confirm or dismiss suspicions. Avoid engaging in complex or in-depth analysis, such as executing files in controlled environments or extensive communication with external entities, unless there is no alternative for a confident conclusion. Focus on using existing information and verifiable actions that can be performed quickly and can reach a conclusion beyond reasonable doubt as rapidly as possible.
- You are computing a function f on an input X. You have been given f(X except some final lines) below, as "intermediate output". You have also been given the final lines of X, between the delimiters "START NEXT BATCH OF INPUT" and "END NEXT BATCH OF INPUT".
- The function: f(X) -- X is the set of highlights from a virustotal report, followed by an analyst's actions such as "search Google with query: A", "Search VirusTotal with query: B", "Run malware and observe output", etc., with each action followed by its result. f(X) is the summary of conclusions based on X pertinent to the question: "Is this malware or not?", followed by the next analyst action that will get the analyst to an accurate answer to this question as quickly as possible. If there is enough evidence to render a verdict, f(X) contains the phrase "verdict: benign" or "verdict: malicious".
Intermediate output: The given file "APSDaemon.exe" is identified as a component of Apple's software and is part of the Apple Push product. While the file is signed by Apple Inc., the signature is not time valid, with an expired certificate from Symantec. There are only 2 malicious verdicts out of 71 vendors, and the file has behavior typical of a software updater or service daemon, including writing and deleting files, making DNS queries, and interacting with system registries. The content beyond the declared end of the file and valid but expired certificate may raise suspicion, but overall, it resembles a legitimate file related to Apple software. The hashes of a known legitimate "APSDaemon.exe" file of the same version, and of the suspected file, are identical.
Next analyst action: Given that the hash verification has confirmed the file's authenticity as an Apple software component, no further actions are required for this analysis. The information obtained is sufficient to conclude that the file is legitimate.
verdict: benign
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