Understand Encryption in Malware: From Basics to XOR

Encryption has been around since ancient times, with early examples dating back to ancient Egypt, where hieroglyphics were used to conceal the meaning of messages. Over the millennia, encryption has evolved and become more complex, but its purpose and basic principles have remained largely unchanged. 

In malware, encryption is a common evasion and anti-analysis technique. you’ll often see 2 applications: 

1. Encrypted traffic (such as exfiltrated data sent to C2) 

2. Encrypted strings (hard-coded URLs, IP addresses, and other sensitive details that …

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