Extracting IOCs from Malware Samples

When to Use

• A malware analysis (static or dynamic) is complete and actionable indicators need to be extracted for defense teams
• Building blocklists for firewalls, proxies, and DNS sinkholes from analyzed samples
• Creating YARA rules, Snort/Suricata signatures, or SIEM detection content from malware artifacts
• Contributing to threat intelligence sharing platforms (MISP, OTX, ThreatConnect)
• Tracking malware campaigns by correlating IOCs across multiple samples

Do not use for IOCs from unverified sources without validation; false positives in blocklists can disrupt legitimate business operations.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+ with iocextract, pefile, yara-python libraries installed
• Completed malware analysis report (static analysis, dynamic analysis, or reverse engineering)
• Access to PCAP files, memory dumps, or sandbox reports from the analysis
• MISP instance or STIX/TAXII server for structured IOC sharing
• VirusTotal API key for IOC enrichment and validation