4 ms·

Well, in my case I was enjoying unpacking protected software (just for fun, I wasn't distributing cracked software, just writing tutorials on how to bypass prot

Well, in my case I was enjoying unpacking protected software (just for fun, I wasn't distributing cracked software, just writing tutorials on how to bypass protections and releasing tools/unpackers/unprotectors for common types of protectors). Then somebody contacted me and offered the job. What you can do? I would start from tuts4you.com, teach x86 assembly language, download a degugger and/or disassembler and dig something or follow tutorials.

kdb1 15y ago
Thanks for your reply. I guess I tend to shy away from things like tuts4u and crackmes.de because it seems questionable legally, although I haven't looked into it much. I mostly "reverse" my own code in gdb just to understand whats going on in the assembly. These types of things are hard to show in a resume, so I'm not really sure how to make myself an attractive job candidate to some of these antivirus companies.
- conductor 15y ago
  I don't see anything illegal in disassembling shareware or any other type of software. Compare it with disassembling your smartphone/alarm clock/hand watch/.. to find out how it works. Why should it be illegal?
  - kdb1 15y ago
    Copyright laws seem to be so strict these days, its tough to tell.
  - DanBC 15y ago
    "circumventing a copyright protection mechanism"? (or whatever the wording is in various laws.)
- mfdoom 15y ago
  Crackme's are written expressly for the purpose of cracking. They are not copyright protected in any way. There is no question legally. They are a great way to learn techniques, and to help develop more advanced techniques by choosing progressively more difficult crackmes to tackle. Also a lot of crackmes will contain solutions from other reversers, so even if you fail you can read the walkthrough and learn from others solutions. Many antivirus companies will rely on your actual knowledge of RE, they will give you some tests and dont soly rely on your resume/experience in the field. They are all well aware how hard it is to find (and keep) good reversers.

kdb1 15y ago

Thanks for your reply. I guess I tend to shy away from things like tuts4u and crackmes.de because it seems questionable legally, although I haven't looked into it much. I mostly "reverse" my own code in gdb just to understand whats going on in the assembly. These types of things are hard to show in a resume, so I'm not really sure how to make myself an attractive job candidate to some of these antivirus companies.

conductor 15y ago
I don't see anything illegal in disassembling shareware or any other type of software. Compare it with disassembling your smartphone/alarm clock/hand watch/.. to find out how it works. Why should it be illegal?
- kdb1 15y ago
  Copyright laws seem to be so strict these days, its tough to tell.
- DanBC 15y ago
  "circumventing a copyright protection mechanism"? (or whatever the wording is in various laws.)
mfdoom 15y ago
Crackme's are written expressly for the purpose of cracking. They are not copyright protected in any way. There is no question legally. They are a great way to learn techniques, and to help develop more advanced techniques by choosing progressively more difficult crackmes to tackle. Also a lot of crackmes will contain solutions from other reversers, so even if you fail you can read the walkthrough and learn from others solutions. Many antivirus companies will rely on your actual knowledge of RE, they will give you some tests and dont soly rely on your resume/experience in the field. They are all well aware how hard it is to find (and keep) good reversers.