Last 5 years in reverse-engineering
 

If a reverse-engineer was in a coma for the last 5 years how would you describe to him the current state of things, compared to 2009?

What significant events, tools, people, groups, etc had the most influence ?

Cheers,
black-eye

i think Aguila,Mr.eXodia,Olleh bring to us most important tools :
Scylla
x64_DBG
ollydbg 2.01

im sure there more but its just my opinion and taste unfortantly LZ0 have left the reveresing scene and im sure not only they so it get worse than 2009

lol
I know reversing from back the 1999
The last 5 years have been the same.
With some tools +/- the reversing is the same.
Maybe the future will port us on another area like mobile devices etc.
Who knows....???

i agree with giv. Mobile aplication cracking will be more popular in the future.
Also there are lots of tools waiting to be updated.

To be honest, packer/protector wise there has been little innovation.

.NET protection has improved since 2009, but then so have the tools to deal with it. Themida/Winlicense/VirtualProtect with proper SDK use are still probably the hardest out there for native apps but hardly unbeatable.

Some nice tools appearing in the Java areas too if that interests.

protector for Java? How does that work?

nothing changed much. but I think we need an uptaded delphi decompiler tool.

As a reverser who has been out of the scene for quite a few years; I have found the time and opportunity to do some quiet reading and learning. I will tell you that from then to now, not all of it comes back to you so fast. :)

Here are my observations from then to now:
x64 is much more common now. This is evident in the tools being currently developed. As a side note, I have to say I am very impressed with the progress of x64_DBG

Personally, the server/client/cloud model is popular changing the paradigm of reversing. This means as reversers there is going to be a larger portion of knowledge dedicated to networking, protocols, and software communication in general.

Mobile has also become big in the past 5 years. There is some fantastic information out there addressing mobile reversing. But this is another area that will continue to develop and I watch it with interest.

Malware/Virus protection becoming enforced in the OS has influenced the way programs operate during execution. This has slightly increased the complexity of the way we reversed program execution and memory 5 years ago.

Personally as I have been studying and learning again, I am very impressed with the direction reversing has taken in 5 years. The quality of information that is available continues to grow and this community that I am proud to be a part of still remains curious! I am glad to still see some familiar names still around pushing the bounds of our understanding and the new names making a strong influence. :)

check out the IDR (Interactive Delphi Reconstructor) by crypto

unbelievable, gabri3l, still hanging around!!

I think : In the future, Mobile Aplication Reversing will hot

Cross-Platform reverse engineering and malware analysis are special Topics in future

that's what i've thought when reading his post ;)

I usually just stop through to reminisce.
But I have been able to find more time recently so I have been playing catch up and learning again. I remain quiet as I have little to actually contribute though at this time; outside of making observations of how reversing has progressed. :)

Hi
Near future: Multi-platform, Malware, 64bits, WebApp & Mobile.

i agree with JohnSmith & benina . Mobile aplication cracking will be more popular in the future.

i think that nothing will change who reverse mobile apps hi will continue to do that who reverse programs hi will also continue with that

at least for me, my direction changed from dongle emulation tools programmer to .Net/android application keygener.
why?
1. nothing new in dongle world.
2. most of windows applications are now based on .Net and dongles are not so effective for .Net as for native applications.
3. there are a lot of useful android based applications.

chip reverse is tough job

Does exist some Android application protector/packer?

One of the best packer in android is Allatori

When I did search, Allatori was the only one that I found, but it's paid.

Does exist one that is free? (like UPX)

Now its +6year ;)
some words from 2014 is happen ...

Almost 10 years later, hope you're safe and sound, bLaCk-eye!

Yeah! Time flies. Another 3 years since last post here! I hope everyone is healthy and well.

I wish best for everyone! Last year was interesting we have lost some fellow people :/ We are getting old; and wise; right?

The new generations don't seem to find or appreciate the value in communities like ours. Reversing could become a lost art. This is really the central hub, the marketplace for ideas.

In the early 2000's people do reversing mostly for fun. Now it becomes a job! Before, people enjoy, now people are trying to deliver on time :/

Yeah, I agree. It's just so sad how many these days try to sell the crack and make money.
I used to release so many crack back in my day for free!

Rumor has it over at now defunct TIRA, they used to smoke crack, and gave away picture releases of their buttcrack for free. That summarizes the past 5 years in that dark corner. No actual reversing took place lol :D

When I was releasing people were profitting from my work so I stopped.. It was supposed to be fun and free.

well, it's all about intention... if you want to make crack for free just do so if you want your name to be heard and not others who sell crack that's can be done also.. however one thing for sure if you can't stop piracy how can you expect a pirated things to be pirate also...

so stop worrying about others selling your crack.. if you want to do it, just do it; otherwise, don't. simple.

I was like that for 3 yrs since mid 2020 and released some might help someone

https://t.co/filJ2GIlgY

I think new dongles (like wibu codemeter for example) should the next challenge here. otherwise I personally will feel like a looser not winner. Mobile devices are different and could be started in a different forum.

my advise to said person would be: focus on mobile, embedded and hardware. don't waste time on software, or PC based operating systems.