HACKER Q&A
📣 markus_zhang

Malware researchers, what hardware/software configuration do you use?


Hi experts,

I'm interested in a malware researcher/reverse engineer's view about HW and SW security. Imagine that you get to see all kinds of weird rootkits/exploits everyday, such as the UEFI malware HN is discussing right now, how do you config your work/personal laptop? (I include work computers as I assume you as specialists have a lot of controls to your work computers)

I'm interested in the following topics if you could shed some light:

- What OS do you use and is there any security reason behind of it (e.g. You probably use Windows VM to research/reverse malwares but what about the host?)

- What security software do you run? (e.g. any anti-malware software you trust or you prefer to write your own detection tools)

- Can you please give one example about a tool you wrote specifically for protecting the computer from being penetrated by advanced malware groups?

- What habits do you have regarding security? (e.g. how do you access emails/banking/any daily necessity these days)

Thanks in advance!


  👤 LeonTheremin Accepted Answer ✓
Air-gap isn't enough considering the existence of hardware trojans with built-in covert radio. Energy-gap, with brine water (like a submarine) is a must.