[stellersjay]

I have done a fair bit of reverse engineering to date including malware analysis. Havent read all the comments but of course a safe environment is important. Virtual environments can even be broken out of if you dont know how to debug simple samples that check for disassemblers or debugger presence. I recommend if you want to get some hands on experience checkout https://nostarch.com/malware (Practical Malware analysis) it will prepare you for messing with real life samples. Techniques are still relevant but technology might be different. Eg: IDA is great but Ghirda is the new hotness on the street.

Anyways have fun, good luck and be safe. Most of all happy hacking :)

[phaus]

>IDA is great but Ghirda is the new hotness on the street.

Ghidra is great but its got a long uphill battle before it dethrones IDA as the choice of professional malware analysts.

[stellersjay]

I agree. I am still a IDA user myself but dabble with other tools in the field to see what competitive edge they may have to offer. What ever gets the job done :)