This last term of my second undergrad has flown by – it feels like I was just starting on this journey! But here I am already staring down the end of this term and the program. The capstone project was meant to demonstrate the knowledge I’ve gained, and I have learned so much and had a lot of growth even while working on this project. As someone who is interested in cybersecurity as a future career path, my project in malware analysis seems like the culmination of my degree but also just another of the beginning steps into the future.
The process of setting up the virtual machines and virtual network, installing and learning to use the analysis tools, and then analyzing the malware all required me to stretch my skills in ways I was not expecting. I would say my biggest success was more of a collective one, taking one of the larger, more complicated malware samples and using every tool at our disposal to slowly untangle it until we finally began to get a picture of what the malware was doing away from prying eyes. It required a lot of collaboration and a lot of time poring over registries and various dynamic analysis tools to really get a sense of the bigger picture, and it was immensely satisfying every time we discovered another piece of the puzzle.
Now that we have just about completed the analysis portion of this project, the last bit left is to compile all we have learned into the final report. I would say this could end up being one of the more time-consuming parts of the whole term, as I have not yet written a paper using the standard format for computer science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE). We have to take pages and pages of notes and screenshots and sift it all down into a paper that people will actually be able to read instead of throwing it to the side due to being 20+ pages. However, I am looking forward to working on consolidating the results and conclusions drawn for these malware samples, and coming out the other side with a solid report on all our findings that I can use as part of my portfolio.
Now for a little SWOT analysis on the class itself:
Strengths – At the beginning of the term the progress reports that were due at the beginning of each week seemed pretty daunting, especially the requirement for a teammate to film the PowerPoint check-ins plus additional demos of our work. But I did end up appreciating having them completed each week, as it really allowed me to reflect on the work I had accomplished in the previous week instead of just rushing onto the next thing.
Weaknesses – I did like the concept of having discussion boards scattered throughout the course for smaller groups, but I do feel like it was a bit of a missed opportunity. I know it can be hard to integrate discussions between teams about their projects before they are completed, perhaps due to a fear that not enough of the project has been completed. But the class discussions mostly focused on general professional considerations when working on a project, rather than allowing teams to discuss their projects with people in other groups. I would have loved to hear more about what others were working on and discovering in their own projects as we went along.
Opportunities – As mentioned above, I believe inter-team communication could be beneficial in future iterations of this course. Teams get pretty siloed off inside their projects, and being able to take a step back and get an outside perspective from someone who has not been staring at it for over 10 hours is sometimes the extra step needed.
Threats – Overall I don’t see too many threats that could affect the quality of this course. I think the setup is as good as it can be for a 3-month capstone project, with plenty of support from our mentor when needed. The plan submitted at the beginning of the term and the weekly progress reports helped keep us on track as time went along.
Here’s to the last few weeks of this term and the last few weeks of my second bachelors degree!
Leave a Reply