Search icon CANCEL
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Mastering Reverse Engineering
Mastering Reverse Engineering

Mastering Reverse Engineering: Re-engineer your ethical hacking skills

eBook
zł59.99 zł158.99
Paperback
zł197.99
Subscription
Free Trial

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Mastering Reverse Engineering

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...

Technical requirements

The operating system environment

Doing reverse engineering requires the analyst to understand where the software being reversed is being run. The major parts that software requires in order to work in an operating system are the memory and the filesystem. In Windows operating systems, besides the memory and the filesystem, Microsoft introduced the registry system, which is actually stored in protected files called registry hives.

The filesystem

The filesystem is where data is stored directly to the physical disk drive. These filesystems manage how files and directories are stored in the disk. Various disk filesystems have their own variation of efficiently reading and writing data. 

There are different disk filesystems...

Typical malware behavior

Malware is simply defined as malicious software. You'd expect bad things to happen to your system environment once malware has entered. Once typical malware enters the system, it does two basic things: installs itself and does its evil work. With the intent of forcing itself to be installed in the system malware does not need to notify the user at all. Instead, it directly makes changes to the system.  

Persistence

One of the changes malware makes in the system is to make itself resident.  Malware persistence means that the malware will still be running in background and, as much as possible, all the time. For example, malware gets executed after every boot-up of the system...

Tools

Identifying the registry entry, files dropped, and running processes that are related to the malware requires tools. There are existing tools that we can use to extract these objects. There are two analysis events we should consider: analysis after the malware has been executed and analysis before the malware executes. Since our aim for this chapter is to extract components, we will discuss the tools that can help us find suspected files. Analysis tools that are used after we have extracted our suspected malware will be discussed in further chapters.

When a system has already been compromised, the analyst would need to use tools that can identify suspected files. Each suspected file will be analysed further. To start off, we can identify it based on persistence.

  1. List down all processes and their respective file information
  2. From the list of known registry persistence paths...

Summary

In the first chapter, we learned about reverse engineering and its importance when analyzing malware. To begin with our reverse engineering adventures, we have to learn the system we are analyzing. We discussed the three main areas in the Windows operating system environment: memory, disk, and the registry.  In this chapter, we aimed to find malware from a compromised Windows system by extracting suspected files. To do that, we listed common startup areas in the system that we can search into. These areas include the registry, task schedules, and startup folder.  

We learned that typical malware behaves by installing itself and runnng code that harms the system. Malware installs itself basically for persistence which results in the malware file triggering most of the time the system is online. We then listed a few behaviors as to why malware was called malicious...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

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
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to Poland

Premium delivery 7 - 10 business days

zł110.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Oct 31, 2018
Length: 436 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788838849
Category :
Tools :

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to Poland

Premium delivery 7 - 10 business days

zł110.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Publication date : Oct 31, 2018
Length: 436 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788838849
Category :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$19.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$199.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just zł20 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$279.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just zł20 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total 641.97
Mastering Reverse Engineering
zł197.99
Hands-On System Programming with Linux
zł221.99
Learning Malware Analysis
zł221.99
Total 641.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

14 Chapters
Preparing to Reverse Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Identification and Extraction of Hidden Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Low-Level Language Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Static and Dynamic Reversing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Tools of the Trade Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
RE in Linux Platforms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
RE for Windows Platforms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Sandboxing - Virtualization as a Component for RE Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Binary Obfuscation Techniques Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Packing and Encryption Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Anti-analysis Tricks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Practical Reverse Engineering of a Windows Executable Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Reversing Various File Types Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
(5 Ratings)
5 star 20%
4 star 40%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 40%
Mansour Ahmed Oct 10, 2022
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
Thank you
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Drakeor Nov 30, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
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 Verified review Amazon
PC Jul 14, 2020
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
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.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Customer Feb 14, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
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 Amazon
Amazon Customer Nov 04, 2018
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
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.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is the delivery time and cost of print book? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela
What is custom duty/charge? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customs duty are charges levied on goods when they cross international borders. It is a tax that is imposed on imported goods. These duties are charged by special authorities and bodies created by local governments and are meant to protect local industries, economies, and businesses.

Do I have to pay customs charges for the print book order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The orders shipped to the countries that are listed under EU27 will not bear custom charges. They are paid by Packt as part of the order.

List of EU27 countries: www.gov.uk/eu-eea:

A custom duty or localized taxes may be applicable on the shipment and would be charged by the recipient country outside of the EU27 which should be paid by the customer and these duties are not included in the shipping charges been charged on the order.

How do I know my custom duty charges? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The amount of duty payable varies greatly depending on the imported goods, the country of origin and several other factors like the total invoice amount or dimensions like weight, and other such criteria applicable in your country.

For example:

  • If you live in Mexico, and the declared value of your ordered items is over $ 50, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 19% which will be $ 9.50 to the courier service.
  • Whereas if you live in Turkey, and the declared value of your ordered items is over € 22, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 18% which will be € 3.96 to the courier service.
How can I cancel my order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Cancellation Policy for Published Printed Books:

You can cancel any order within 1 hour of placing the order. Simply contact customercare@packt.com with your order details or payment transaction id. If your order has already started the shipment process, we will do our best to stop it. However, if it is already on the way to you then when you receive it, you can contact us at customercare@packt.com using the returns and refund process.

Please understand that Packt Publishing cannot provide refunds or cancel any order except for the cases described in our Return Policy (i.e. Packt Publishing agrees to replace your printed book because it arrives damaged or material defect in book), Packt Publishing will not accept returns.

What is your returns and refunds policy? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Return Policy:

We want you to be happy with your purchase from Packtpub.com. We will not hassle you with returning print books to us. If the print book you receive from us is incorrect, damaged, doesn't work or is unacceptably late, please contact Customer Relations Team on customercare@packt.com with the order number and issue details as explained below:

  1. If you ordered (eBook, Video or Print Book) incorrectly or accidentally, please contact Customer Relations Team on customercare@packt.com within one hour of placing the order and we will replace/refund you the item cost.
  2. Sadly, if your eBook or Video file is faulty or a fault occurs during the eBook or Video being made available to you, i.e. during download then you should contact Customer Relations Team within 14 days of purchase on customercare@packt.com who will be able to resolve this issue for you.
  3. You will have a choice of replacement or refund of the problem items.(damaged, defective or incorrect)
  4. Once Customer Care Team confirms that you will be refunded, you should receive the refund within 10 to 12 working days.
  5. If you are only requesting a refund of one book from a multiple order, then we will refund you the appropriate single item.
  6. Where the items were shipped under a free shipping offer, there will be no shipping costs to refund.

On the off chance your printed book arrives damaged, with book material defect, contact our Customer Relation Team on customercare@packt.com within 14 days of receipt of the book with appropriate evidence of damage and we will work with you to secure a replacement copy, if necessary. Please note that each printed book you order from us is individually made by Packt's professional book-printing partner which is on a print-on-demand basis.

What tax is charged? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Currently, no tax is charged on the purchase of any print book (subject to change based on the laws and regulations). A localized VAT fee is charged only to our European and UK customers on eBooks, Video and subscriptions that they buy. GST is charged to Indian customers for eBooks and video purchases.

What payment methods can I use? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

You can pay with the following card types:

  1. Visa Debit
  2. Visa Credit
  3. MasterCard
  4. PayPal
What is the delivery time and cost of print books? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela