Reverse engineering

lastmod 2026-04-13created 2016-01-2211 edits

Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device or system through analysis of its structure. It often involves taking the subject (a mechanical device, electronic component, software program, etc.) apart and analyzing it. It also involves analyzing the detailed workings of the subject for maintenance, or to build a new device that performs the same function without using any part of the original.

Reverse engineering originated in the analysis of hardware for commercial or military purposes. The purpose is to infer design decisions from the end product with little or no knowledge of the procedures used in the original production. The same techniques are currently being researched for application to legacy software systems, not for industrial or defense purposes, but to correct erroneous, incomplete, or inaccessible documentation.

See also

• OllyDbg
• IDA
• Binary Ninja
• gdb
• Obfuscation
• Disassembler
• Software cracking
• Cutter
• ghidraMCP - Ghidra MCP server for reverse engineering
• Rizin
• rzweb - Browser-based reverse engineering platform using Rizin

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) Reverse engineering
• [Recommended] Ultimate Introduction to cracking Software and how to protect against it | Reverse Engineering ¹ (An ultimate introduction to software cracking and how to prevent it)
  1. How to crack Software
     1. Decompiling
     2. De-Obfuscation
     3. Assembly Code
  2. How to protect your program from cracking
     1. Server Side Execution
     2. Obfuscation
     3. Legal / EULA / License
     4. Psychological Warfare
  3. Further resources and Books
• Extracting AI models from mobile apps | GeekNews
  • [Original] You wouldn't download an AI - by Altay Akkus - Altay's Blog
  • Frida is a dynamic instrumentation tool that runs on almost every operating system and can attach to running processes to change their behavior

References