3 ms·

Who are the best 'reversers' out there? I work in bioengineering which is largely a reverse-engineering discipline (i.e. we do a lot of tweaking natural organi

by jrkelly 15y ago

Who are the best 'reversers' out there? I work in bioengineering which is largely a reverse-engineering discipline (i.e. we do a lot of tweaking natural organisms that we didn't design) -- just curious if there are overlapping ways of thinking / general approaches. Anyone do serious CS research on reverse engineering methodologies?

CodeMage 15y ago
I've been out of touch and out of practice for years now, so I'm curious to know the answer to this question. I was fascinated with reverse engineering back when Fravia[1] hadn't yet completely moved away from cracking to "search lore". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravia
conductor 15y ago
There is the 0-day Scene, those groups which are pretty much closed/private (to name some, CORE, BliZZARD, EMBRACE, HERiTAGE, SSG, DiGERATi..), these are invitation only. And the Web scene groups like FFF, TSRh, RES, who often offer to solve some keygenme/crackme for newcomers to be accepted.
mfdoom 15y ago
I have talked about this with a friend of mine a few times. We have attempted to formulate a 'theory of reverse engineering' a few times but so far nothing concrete has come of it. My personal experience is that RE is as much a mindset as it is a deep well of technical knowledge. Without the crucial knowledge of the axioms of the framework you are reversing, you can often do nothing but guess. Without a strong understanding of the "RE methodology", even with the technical knowledge you stand a good chance of getting sidetracked or bogged in minutia. My personal belief is that although the subjects are different, the methodology is the same. I have no proof to back this up, it is just my belief based on experience. To answer your first question, the 'best' reverser's are often the silent, faceless crackers/hackers: they hunger for knowledge and are scattered all around the world, in basements, bedrooms and studios. Many move to anti-virus firms, or DRM/software protection companies. Others are hired by government agencies. Some move into hacking, bug and exploit discovery. A rare few move into academic research, like my friend Mr. Rolles.

by jrkelly 15y ago

CodeMage 15y ago

I've been out of touch and out of practice for years now, so I'm curious to know the answer to this question. I was fascinated with reverse engineering back when Fravia[1] hadn't yet completely moved away from cracking to "search lore". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravia

conductor 15y ago

There is the 0-day Scene, those groups which are pretty much closed/private (to name some, CORE, BliZZARD, EMBRACE, HERiTAGE, SSG, DiGERATi..), these are invitation only. And the Web scene groups like FFF, TSRh, RES, who often offer to solve some keygenme/crackme for newcomers to be accepted.

mfdoom 15y ago

I have talked about this with a friend of mine a few times. We have attempted to formulate a 'theory of reverse engineering' a few times but so far nothing concrete has come of it. My personal experience is that RE is as much a mindset as it is a deep well of technical knowledge. Without the crucial knowledge of the axioms of the framework you are reversing, you can often do nothing but guess. Without a strong understanding of the "RE methodology", even with the technical knowledge you stand a good chance of getting sidetracked or bogged in minutia. My personal belief is that although the subjects are different, the methodology is the same. I have no proof to back this up, it is just my belief based on experience. To answer your first question, the 'best' reverser's are often the silent, faceless crackers/hackers: they hunger for knowledge and are scattered all around the world, in basements, bedrooms and studios. Many move to anti-virus firms, or DRM/software protection companies. Others are hired by government agencies. Some move into hacking, bug and exploit discovery. A rare few move into academic research, like my friend Mr. Rolles.