Malware analysis can often feel out of reach for newer analysts, particularly when discussions move into reverse engineering and assembly. In practice, however, the earliest stages of analysis frequently provide enough information to form an initial understanding of a sample. This talk introduces a structured “first 10 minutes” malware triage workflow, covering hashes, reputation analysis, strings extraction, and sandbox detonation. The focus is on efficiently identifying behavioural indicators and building a coherent analytical narrative from early observations, rather than immediately relying on deep reverse engineering. Attendees will leave with a repeatable and practical approach to early-stage malware analysis that supports incident response workflows, strengthens analytical confidence, and improves the ability to quickly translate unknown samples into meaningful, actionable insight.