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Identification and Extraction of Hidden Components

Today, the most common use for reverse engineering is in targeting malware. Like any other software, malware has its installation process. The difference is that it does not ask for the user's permission to install. Malware does not even install in the Program files folder where other legitimate applications are installed. Rather, it tends to install its malware file in folders that are not commonly entered by the user, making it hidden from being noticed. However, some malware shows up noticed and generates copies of itself in almost all noticeable folders such as the desktop. Its purpose is to get its copies executed by users, be it by accidental double-click or by curiosity. This is what we usually call malware persistence.

Persistence is when malware consistently runs in the background. In this chapter, we will be pointing...

Key benefits

Analyze and improvise software and hardware with real-world examples

Learn advanced debugging and patching techniques with tools such as IDA Pro, x86dbg, and Radare2.

Explore modern security techniques to identify, exploit, and avoid cyber threats

Description

If you want to analyze software in order to exploit its weaknesses and strengthen its defenses, then you should explore reverse engineering. Reverse Engineering is a hackerfriendly tool used to expose security flaws and questionable privacy practices.In this book, you will learn how to analyse software even without having access to its source code or design documents. You will start off by learning the low-level language used to communicate with the computer and then move on to covering reverse engineering techniques. Next, you will explore analysis techniques using real-world tools such as IDA Pro and x86dbg. As you progress through the chapters, you will walk through use cases encountered in reverse engineering, such as encryption and compression, used to obfuscate code, and how to to identify and overcome anti-debugging and anti-analysis tricks. Lastly, you will learn how to analyse other types of files that contain code. By the end of this book, you will have the confidence to perform reverse engineering.

Who is this book for?

If you are a security engineer or analyst or a system programmer and want to use reverse engineering to improve your software and hardware, this is the book for you. You will also find this book useful if you are a developer who wants to explore and learn reverse engineering. Having some programming/shell scripting knowledge is an added advantage.

What you will learn

Learn core reverse engineering

Identify and extract malware components

Explore the tools used for reverse engineering

Run programs under non-native operating systems

Understand binary obfuscation techniques

Identify and analyze anti-debugging and anti-analysis tricks

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Total € 120.97

Customer Feb 14, 2019

Contained the information necessary to go from casual malware analyst to occasional hero. The crux of the matter is developed when the author hits on key points necessary to repackage executables while coding out the malicious logic -- especially logic intended to ruin early-stage and mid-stage analysis efforts that are focused by the adversary towards the amateur reverser. Other books in this vein do not necessarily cover the the necessary steps to champion repatching. In the future, a serious book might cover more advanced topics, such as hot patching, but I think this book covers most of the subject matter well.The book may not have a lot for an average exploit developer, or for reversers who are not subject to the cat-and mouse game of anti-debugging, anti-tampering, anti-emulation, and vm-detection techniques. For those who want to up their skills and abilities in critical areas that key cybersecurity countermeasures such as FireEye, Palo Alto Networks, McAfee ATD, and Microsoft ATP/Defender might miss -- this is the right book at the right time. This book also has the ability to foresee malware intelligence as a future decisive area where cybersecurity decisions are made. You have to read into it a little bit. It's not obvious, so maybe give it a few reads, embellish the ideas and concepts by practicing them, and spend a little effort beyond what the book provides.You will find no better modern resource on the in-the weeds methods (not just the tools, but the techniques!) of malicious logic reversing. If you intend to do battle with a disassembler, debugger, or other related weapon of choice -- look no further than this written material on this topic.

Amazon Verified review

Mansour Ahmed Oct 10, 2022

Thank you

Drakeor Nov 30, 2020

TLDR:The title is misleading. This book is an excellent primer for Malware Analysis and I highly recommend it if you're new to it. However, expect to quickly move onto other books/resources once you need any sort of depth into any of the tools/techniques.Summary:The title makes it seem like a more in-depth book for people already familiar with the basics of reverse engineering and thus are looking for new techniques or ways to improve their existing skillsets. Instead, this book is an introductory book into Malware Analysis. If it's treated like that, I do recommend this book for anyone wanting a good primer into Malware analysis. I understand that there's a lot to cover (Ex: static analysis have entire textbooks dedicated to them) so don't expect an in-depth guide on the tools/techniques.Pros:- Touches on a good number of techniques and tools used for Malware Analysis. There were a couple the author mentioned that I was not yet aware of.- Touches on a good number of topics such as anti-debugging / anti-vm / metamorphism- Pretty easy to follow and not overly bloated. Gives enough information that one would be able to look up areas they aren't familiar with and expand their knowledge.- Explanations were easy to follow.Cons:- The title is misleading. This is really the biggest con. It really should be called "A Primer on Malware Analysis".- This book is far from comprehensive. If you were looking for a comprehensive textbook on Malware Analysis with an appropriate amount of exercises, this isn't the book for you. This is less of a con if you approach this book as a primer.- It's $45 on Amazon. I read mine thru Packt Publishing's site since I have an account there, but $45 is way too steep a price for this book. I feel it's worth more like $25, $30 at most. The only way I would justify $45 is if it had more exercises.

Amazon Customer Nov 04, 2018

This would be the worst book I've read about reversing if it was about... reversing. Instead it is very brief peek into several available tools that aid in malware analysis. The chapter about MBR reversing with bochs is worst than one provided by IDA Pro authors available at Hex Blog site for free. IDA capabilities are not even scratched, all the code is targeting x86 32 bit platforms (with brief exception of tips how to run ARM base linux distro in QEMU). The book doesn't even explain how disassembler works hence the chapter about code obfuscation are a bit useless, especially considering the fact that there are very few examples being discussed. Anti debugging and anti emulation tricks are also very briefly discussed. x64 architecture is not discussed, just like ARM (with single exception above). Don't buy this book, there are many others great publication on this topic available today.

PC Jul 14, 2020

Der Text wird richtig gezeigt: es kann problemlos vergrößert werden aber die Bilder bleiben leider extrem klein: es ist schwer zu erkenne, was sie zeigen sollten.Das zweite Bild zeigt das Hauptfenster von Ollidbg: Ich habe es erkannt, nur weil Ich es regelmäßig benutze.Dazu, die Quelltexte werden mit einer Schriftart gezeigt, die extrem dünn ist, praktisch unleserlich (drittes Bild).Man fragt sich, warum solche Probleme niemandem aufgefallen sind.Komisch ist auch, dass „Blick ins Buch“ eine mackellose Darstellung der Seiten zeigt, auch derjenigen, die bei Kindle Windows die Darstellungsprobleme zeigen, die Ich beschrieben habe.

Mastering Reverse Engineering: Re-engineer your ethical hacking skills

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Mastering Reverse Engineering

Identification and Extraction of Hidden Components

Technical requirements

The operating system environment

The filesystem

Typical malware behavior

Persistence

Tools

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Mastering Reverse Engineering: Re-engineer your ethical hacking skills

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