CompTIA Exam CS0-003 Topic 3 Question 5 Discussion

Validating the binaries' hashes from a trusted source is the next step the analyst should take after discovering some binaries that are exhibiting abnormal behaviors and finding unexpected content in their strings. A hash is a fixed-length value that uniquely represents the contents of a file or message. By comparing the hashes of the binaries on the compromised machine with the hashes of the original or legitimate binaries from a trusted source, such as the software vendor or repository, the analyst can determine whether the binaries have been modified or replaced by malicious code. If the hashes do not match, it indicates that the binaries have been tampered with and may contain malware.