Reverse Engineering
Do you want to learn reverse engineering? Here’s how I got started out in the 90s:
- Learned x86 assembly by reading Programming the 8086 8088 (I still have my copy. If you are filthy rich and would like to buy it, please do get in touch).
- Scoured the net for articles and tutorials on reverse engineering. Fravia’s site was a goldmine.
- Lurked in a x86 assembly IRC channel and picked up tips from wise wizards.
Essential reversing tools:
- Hex editor
- Disassembler
- Kernel mode debugger
You can get by with only free tools, but for serious reversing you will need to spend around 4000 USD on commercial tools.
Godspeed aspiring reverser!
February 9th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
That’s cool. I’m always messing around with applications binaries in Hex Editors and Disassemblers, but I don’t now enough assembly to know what’s going on in the app. I guess you’re trying to give everyone who keeps asking for a working reverse engineer of iTunes a hint.
February 10th, 2006 at 12:13 am
w00t =)
I know my uncle got one of those ol’ books. Got to call him:)
February 10th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Have you posted this because of my email?
February 10th, 2006 at 10:55 am
What is mising in the free tools that the $4000 tools will afford you? I don’t doubt that what you say is correct, but I would like to know what can be done to aleviate the problem of no really good free tools to get the job done.
February 10th, 2006 at 11:32 am
I guess we (someone) will have to reverse engineer the $4000 tool
… Then the only thing you’ll need in reverse engineering besides the skill and know-how, is TIME (no not the magazine)… which I still don’t have 
February 10th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
I suppose hes talking about more advanced code analyisis tools and commerical products such as IDA pro (command line/ncurses version only, can’t stand gui’s).
February 12th, 2006 at 10:28 am
I’ll give you 5USD for the book if you sign it
February 14th, 2006 at 12:56 am
Tenkte kanskje det var morsomt og få en Norsk Hilsen;)
Mvh
En stor beundrer!
February 14th, 2006 at 1:47 am
My favorite way of reverse engineering things is single-step tracing. Run a program in a debugger, logging every instruction executed (this takes about an hour). Then run the program again with different parameters. sort/uniq the results and compare them. In this way you can see which instructions get executed for various functions and find the parts you’re interested in. This can get tricky when there is UI involved, but for most multimedia programs you can give it a file to play at launch.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:17 am
How about a list of the actual tools you use? (both free and commercial)
February 20th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
So “Programming the 8086 8088″ is your favorite book for X86 assembly? I’m gearing-up to disassemble an old DOS program we use at work, to use its data files outside the EXE and maybe expand it a little, but have never done any X86 programming. I do know some 6502/6510 and 68000 assembly, and have used a bunch of higher-level languages, so I’m not too concerned, but am not sure where to start with X86. So I’d also like to know which tools and books you recommend.
February 26th, 2006 at 3:44 am
hi,
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thakns
Vicky
March 1st, 2006 at 1:04 pm
There are several good books about reverseing that will answer questions about commercial debuggers and non commercial debuggers. Secrets of Reverse Engineering was such
one book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764574817/sr=8-1/qid=1141246868/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6438296-4442518?%5Fencoding=UTF8
What is really helpful is having 2 systems side by side running in the debugger – one legit and one that fails. Then you can see step by step which paths are taken.
March 15th, 2006 at 1:04 am
Screw the 4 grand! get ketman ( http://www.btinternet.com/~btketman/ ), winDBG, and Rec (http://www.backerstreet.com/rec/rec.htm ) grand total $50 USD and you have it made!
March 26th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Modernly, you can find all you need, you just need to know where to look
April 20th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Hey, it would be great if you could name the tools you use. I am new to cracking, and I would love to know what tools you use. Also, what OS do you run when you are reversing?
July 11th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I’ve got my old Z80 technical reference that I learned on back in the mid to late 70′s !