Application virtualization techniques for malware forensics in social engineering

There is an increased trend in information insecurity, online fraud and social engineering activities today as a result of high dependence on the Internet and social networks for communication, advertisement of products and services, etc. Malwares are most times, deliberately programmed as worms to appear as flash messages, online games, gift awards and in many other attractive forms for the user to access just at the click of a button. Several methods have been applied to minimize these infiltrations which include firewalls and anti-viruses. However when confronted with a system infected with malware, a person´s ability to investigate the system successfully depends on his knowledge, experience, and toolset. This is where there is a conundrum. People tend to avoid dealing with malware cases on their own due to inexperience and lack of knowledge but would rather outsource it to IT professionals either hired at that particular instance or employed within their organization. However, through careful preparation one can acquire knowledge, experience, and toolset that can eventually lead to working malware cases. The various procedures for investigating infiltrations into supposedly secure networks and computer systems are presented in this paper.