SSMA alternatives

Looking for an alternative tool to replace SSMA? During the review of SSMA we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.

Top 3

  1. MultiScanner (file scanning and analysis framework)
  2. Binary Analysis Next Generation (framework for binary analysis)
  3. Mal Tindex (malware sample analyzer)

These tools are ranked as the best alternatives to SSMA.

Alternatives (by score)

60

MultiScanner

Introduction

MultiScanner helps malware analysts by providing a toolkit to perform both automated and manual analysis. The data extracted from the analysis can be easily stored together, including the relevant metadata and samples. It allows enriching the data further by retrieving information from external resources.

Project details

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + More than 10 contributors
  • + The source code of this software is available

    Typical usage

    • Malware analysis
    • Malware detection
    • Malware scanning

    MultiScanner review

    64

    Binary Analysis Next Generation (BANG)

    Introduction

    BANG is a framework to unpack files recursively and scan them. The files can be firmware, binaries, or malware. The main goal is to scan all files and perform classification and labeling. This way each file can be further analyzed based on the characteristics.

    Project details

    Binary Analysis Next Generation is written in Python.

    Strengths and weaknesses

    • + The source code of this software is available
    • - No releases on GitHub available

    Typical usage

    • Binary analysis
    • Malware analysis
    • Malware scanning

    Binary Analysis Next Generation review

    64

    Mal Tindex

    Introduction

    Mal Tindex is a tool that performs binary analysis on malware samples. It analyzes the binaries it is provided to learn about the specifics of each malware sample that makes them unique. This way data can be gathered that may provide background information. For example, it could provide the attribution of a particular actor or malware campaign.

    Project details

    Mal Tindex is written in Python.

    Strengths and weaknesses

    • + The source code of this software is available

      Typical usage

      • Malware analysis
      • Malware research

      Mal Tindex review

      60

      Malice

      Introduction

      Malice is a malware analysis that wants to provide a free and open source version of VirusTotal. The goal of Malice is to make it usable by both independent researchers up to fortune 500 companies.

      Malice is useful for those that do malware analysis or deal with user-generated files that may contain malware. The framework allows scanning files and directories to see if they are infected.

      Project details

      Malice is written in Golang.

      Strengths and weaknesses

      • + More than 500 GitHub stars
      • + The source code of this software is available

        Typical usage

        • Malware analysis
        • Malware detection
        • Malware research
        • Malware scanning

        Malice review

        60

        YaraGuardian

        Introduction

        YaraGuardian provides a web-based interface that helps to manage Yara rules. It can be used to search, organize, and bulk-edit rules. The tool also prevents creating duplicate entries, which is a nice additional benefit of this management utility.

        Project details

        YaraGuardian is written in Python.

        Strengths and weaknesses

        • + The source code of this software is available

          Typical usage

          • Malware analysis

          YaraGuardian review

          97

          YARA

          Introduction

          YARA is a tool to identify and classify malware samples. It uses textual or binary patterns to match data, combined with a boolean expression to define a match. YARA is multi-platform, can be used via a command-line interface or via Python scripts using the yara-python extension.

          Project details

          YARA is written in C.

          Strengths and weaknesses

          • + More than 50 contributors
          • + More than 2000 GitHub stars
          • + The source code of this software is available

            Typical usage

            • Malware analysis
            • Malware detection
            • Malware scanning

            YARA review

            74

            Malscan

            Introduction

            Malscan is a tool to scan for malicious software (malware) such as viruses, worms, and backdoors. Its goal is to extend ClamAV with more scanning modes and signatures. It targets web servers running Linux, but can also be used on mail servers and desktops.

            Project details

            Malscan is written in shell script.

            Strengths and weaknesses

            • + Used language is shell script
            • + The source code of this software is available

              Typical usage

              • Malware protection
              • Malware scanning

              Malscan review

              64

              MalPipe

              Introduction

              MalPipe is a modular malware and indicator collection and processing framework. It is designed to pull information about malware, domains, URLs, and IP addresses from multiple feeds. Finally, it will enrich the collected data and export the results.

              Project details

              MalPipe is written in Python.

              Strengths and weaknesses

              • + The source code of this software is available
              • - No releases on GitHub available

              Typical usage

              • Data enrichment
              • Data processing
              • Intrusion detection
              • Malware analysis
              • Malware detection

              MalPipe review

              60

              bamfdetect

              Introduction

              With bamfdetect, malware and bots can be analyzed. It identifies and extracts information and returns data in JSON format.

              Project details

              bamfdetect is written in Python.

              Strengths and weaknesses

              • + The source code of this software is available

                Typical usage

                • Malware analysis
                • Malware scanning

                bamfdetect review

                100

                ClamAV

                Introduction

                ClamAV is a popular tool to detect malicious software or malware. While it calls itself an antivirus engine, it probably won't encounter many viruses, as they have become rare. It is more likely to find other forms of malware like worms, backdoors, and ransomware. ClamAV can be used in a few ways, from doing an occasional scan up to scanning in batch. ClamAV does not do on-access scanning but can be combined with other tools to obtain similar functionality. ClamAV is often used to support scanning incoming emails for malicious content.

                Project details

                ClamAV is written in C.

                Strengths and weaknesses

                • + Many maintainers
                • + The source code of this software is available

                  Typical usage

                  • Malware analysis
                  • Malware detection
                  • Malware scanning

                  ClamAV review

                  64

                  Cutter

                  Introduction

                  Cutter is a graphical user interface for radare2, the well-known reverse engineering framework. It focuses on those who are not familiar enough with radare2, or rather have a graphical interface instead of the command-line interface that radare2 provides.

                  Project details

                  Cutter is written in C++, Qt.

                  Strengths and weaknesses

                  • + More than 50 contributors
                  • + More than 3000 GitHub stars
                  • + The source code of this software is available

                    Typical usage

                    • Binary analysis
                    • Malware analysis
                    • Reverse engineering

                    Cutter review

                    78

                    Intrigue Core

                    Introduction

                    Intrigue Core provides a framework to measure the attack surface of an environment. This includes discovering infrastructure and applications, performing security research, and doing vulnerability discovery.

                    Intrigue also allows enriching available data and perform OSINT research (open source intelligence). The related scans include DNS subdomain brute-forcing, email harvesting, IP geolocation, port scanning, and using public search engines like Censys, Shodan, and Bing.

                    Project details

                    Intrigue Core is written in Ruby.

                    Strengths and weaknesses

                    • + More than 500 GitHub stars
                    • + The source code of this software is available

                      Typical usage

                      • OSINT research
                      • Asset discovery
                      • Attack surface measurement
                      • Intelligence gathering
                      • Penetration testing
                      • Security assessment

                      Intrigue Core review

                      96

                      LIEF

                      Introduction

                      LIEF is short for Library to Instrument Executable Formats.

                      Project details

                      LIEF is written in Python.

                      Strengths and weaknesses

                      • + The source code of this software is available

                        Typical usage

                        • Binary analysis
                        • Malware analysis
                        • Reverse engineering

                        LIEF review

                        78

                        radare2

                        Introduction

                        Radare2 is a popular framework to perform reverse engineering on many different file types. It can be used to analyze malware, firmware, or any other type of binary files. Besides reverse engineering, it can be used for forensics on filesystems and do data carving. Tasks can be scripted and support languages like JavaScript, Go, and Python. Even software exploitation is one of the functions it can be used in.

                        Project details

                        radare2 is written in C.

                        Strengths and weaknesses

                        • + More than 500 contributors
                        • + More than 8000 GitHub stars
                        • + Many releases available
                        • + The source code of this software is available

                          Typical usage

                          • Digital forensics
                          • Reverse engineering
                          • Software exploitation
                          • Troubleshooting

                          radare2 review

                          85

                          Maltrail

                          Introduction

                          Maltrail monitors for traffic on the network that might indicate system compromise or other bad behavior. It is great for intrusion detection and monitoring.

                          Project details

                          Maltrail is written in Python.

                          Strengths and weaknesses

                          • + More than 10 contributors
                          • + More than 3000 GitHub stars
                          • + The source code of this software is available

                            Typical usage

                            • Intrusion detection
                            • Network analysis
                            • Security monitoring

                            Maltrail review

                            78

                            PyREBox

                            Introduction

                            PyREBox is short for Python scriptable Reverse Engineering Sandbox. It provides dynamic analysis and debugging capabilities of a running QEMU virtual machine. The primary usage is the analysis of running processes to perform reverse engineering. PyREBox can change parts of the running system by changing data in memory or within processor registers.

                            Project details

                            PyREBox is written in C++, Python.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + The source code of this software is available

                              Typical usage

                              • Binary analysis
                              • Malware analysis
                              • Reverse engineering

                              PyREBox review

                              74

                              LMD

                              Introduction

                              LMD uses MD5 file hashes and HEX pattern matches to define the malware signatures. These are used to detect malware.

                              Project details

                              LMD is written in shell script.

                              Strengths and weaknesses

                              • + The source code of this software is available

                                Typical usage

                                • Malware scanning

                                LMD review

                                59

                                Rootkit Hunter (rkhunter)

                                Introduction

                                Rootkit Hunter is a small utility to find suspicious rootkit components. Other known backdoors or malicious software can also be discovered, especially if it has the goal to hide.

                                The tool uses different ways to hunt, like using predefined directory locations and comparing the output of system utilities. Another method is by requesting a specific output and see if this output is altered, therefore tricking rootkits to reveal themselves.

                                Project details

                                Rootkit Hunter is written in shell script.

                                Strengths and weaknesses

                                • + Used language is shell script
                                • + Project is mature (10+ years)
                                • + The source code of this software is available

                                  Typical usage

                                  • Malware detection
                                  • Malware scanning

                                  Rootkit Hunter review

                                  60

                                  yarGen

                                  Introduction

                                  The yarGen utility helps with creating YARA rules for malware detection. It can combine both 'goodware' and 'malware', to properly craft the right rules.

                                  Project details

                                  74

                                  Cuckoo Sandbox (cuckoo)

                                  Introduction

                                  In a matter of seconds, Cuckoo Sandbox provides detailed results on what a file does within an isolated environment. This helps with malware analysis and understanding what it exactly tries to achieve. Further analysis can be done, based on the previous actions that were done.

                                  Cuckoo Sandbox was created by Claudio Guarnieri as part of the Google Summer of Code project in 2010.

                                  Project details

                                  Cuckoo Sandbox is written in Python.

                                  Strengths and weaknesses

                                  • + More than 2000 GitHub stars
                                  • + The source code of this software is available
                                  • - Many provided pull requests are still open
                                  • - Many reported issues are still open

                                  Typical usage

                                  • Digital forensics
                                  • Malware analysis

                                  Cuckoo Sandbox review

                                  70

                                  Viper

                                  Introduction

                                  Viper organizes the malware samples and exploits you found over time. It calls itself "Metasploit for malware researchers". Viper has a terminal interface to store, search and analyze files. As it is a framework, is also allows you to create your plugins.

                                  Project details

                                  52

                                  bingrep

                                  Introduction

                                  Searches through binaries and highlights the most important areas with colors.

                                  Supported binary formats:

                                  • ELF 32/64, arm, x86, openrisc
                                  • Mach 32/64, arm, x86
                                  • PE

                                  Project details

                                  59

                                  chkrootkit

                                  Introduction

                                  The chkrootkit tool consists of multiple parts that may detect the presence of rootkit parts of rootkit behavior on a system.

                                  Some areas that are checked include:

                                  • interface in promiscuous mode
                                  • lastlog deletions
                                  • wtmp deletions
                                  • wtmpx deletions
                                  • signs of LKM trojans
                                  • utmp deletions

                                  Project details

                                  chkrootkit is written in C, shell script.

                                  Strengths and weaknesses

                                  • + Used language is shell script
                                  • + Project is mature (10+ years)
                                  • - Long time between releases

                                  Typical usage

                                  • Malware detection
                                  • Malware scanning

                                  chkrootkit review

                                  64

                                  Diamorphine

                                  Introduction

                                  Rootkits are typically considered to be malware, or malicious software. With the intent to hide, this type of software is often used after a breach. Learning about how it works can be useful for security researchers and security professionals.

                                  Project details

                                  Diamorphine is written in C.

                                  Strengths and weaknesses

                                  • + The source code of this software is available

                                    Typical usage

                                    • Learning

                                    Diamorphine review

                                    97

                                    hBlock

                                    Introduction

                                    For the privacy-aware users, tools like hBlock can be helpful to block malicious domains, malware, advertisements, and trackers. Trackers could be pixels added to websites to track which pages you visited, which might invade your privacy.

                                    Project details

                                    hBlock is written in shell script.

                                    Strengths and weaknesses

                                    • + Used language is shell script
                                    • + The source code of this software is available

                                      Typical usage

                                      • Malware protection
                                      • Privacy enhancement
                                      • Provide anonymity

                                      hBlock review

                                      Some relevant tool missing as an alternative to SSMA? Please contact us with your suggestion.