[TEC] *.exe Reverse-Engineering

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by raymond6751

Quote: I do not know anything about this, but would love to learn more. The topic is totally new for me, as for many others here as well. Could the people who have experience in this, post their knowledge and share it to all of us?

This is illegal, regardless of your opinion. It is also morally wrong, just as pirating copies of discs and hacking.

That's an incorrect statement. The process of RE is legal as long as one does not redistribute the copyrighted software with changes. Your big name anti-virus companies, the government (US), and many large corporations use RE to learn how to use others software or to discover 'hidden' features not documented from the software manufacturer (anti-virus companies use it to learn how the virus, worm, etc. works and/or transmits itself). If this was really illegal then the US government and anti-virus companies would have thousands, if not millions, of lawsuits filed against them (not to mention those who made the virus, worm, etc. could file lawsuits against those who used RE to mitigate their creation).
Let me cite one example of RE that benefited everyone. Microsoft's Word format was a 'closed' format that only Microsoft's Word could read/create. Third party companies used RE to figure out the word format and they created software that could read/write the word format. Did you see Microsoft filing any lawsuits on this? No. There was nothing they could do about it because those third party companies created their own unique software that didn't use any of Microsoft's libraries or modules. Who was the winner in this? Everyone.
Check your local Borders, Amazon.com, etc. to see what they offer book wise on the subject. You'll see there are MANY books on it. They are EXCELLENT reading for those that have an interest in learning. Sadly the average person's knowledge in RE dwindles every day because of 'false fear' everyone tries to raise about it. Companies/corporations try to instill this 'fear' as a scare tactic and sadly it works on the majority of people.
The best defense is knowing the ways/tactics of your potential attacker/foe