I know I was very confused the first time I created a virtual machine for malware analysis. My biggest concern was how to make sure that the samples I'm analyzing are not to escape the isolation environment.
I still have that concern because new malware is very sophisticated.
I follow the folks at the OALabs Youtube channel because they often do interesting videos of analyzing malware, of working with software such as IDA or OllyDBG, and so on.
I believe they're starting a new series (probably the first one) in which they show us how to set up a lab at first, and then we're probably (possibly) gonna be looking into malware samples. If you want to follow along, look at this video and download and setup your virtual lab accordingly.
To stay in touch with me, follow @cristi
Cristi Vlad Self-Experimenter and Author