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9. How will you ensure continuous uptime availability and ongoing technical support for a home-
grown solution?

Are your malware analysts capabilities truly mission critical or merely incidental to your business? What
happens if you are breached?

What would be the impact of a week of downtime on your ability to analyze and defend against
malware threats? Who will you call in an emergency? Does anyone have a vested interest in your
success or are you completely on your own?

Proficiency with Open Source Tools

10. What is your organization’s position concerning the use of open-source tools?

How common are they found within your business today? Do they have official organization support?
Are you familiar with the limitations of the open-source model? Are you aware that young projects
often skew to ‘power users’? Others have little or no voice. Also, in the quest to be “free’, tools and
components used may be sub-optimal and lack accountability. Everyone uses Linux, but most
businesses will select a vendor-supported version!

It’s not Always an Either-Or Decision

A proper malware analysis workbench typically involves a wide range of tools and employs a broad array
of techniques in the never-ending fight to keep your organization safe from relentless adversaries.
Incorporating both an off-the-shelf and home-grown tools can sometimes be the best solution.

About The Author

Michael Rosen has an MBA in Information Systems and over 20 years of experience
delivering secure, high-reliability hardware, software, and service-based solutions to
business and government. His background includes data security, public safety 9-1-1
telecommunications, wireless communications, biometrics, and telemetry data systems
for aerospace and defense. He is currently a Product Manager for Norman Shark, an
industry-leader in automated malware analysis and forensics.

11 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – August 2013 Edition
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