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Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking something (e. g. a mechanical device, electronic component, or software program) apart and analyzing its workings in detail, usually to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without copying anything from the original. A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity An electronic component is a basic electronic element usually packaged in a discrete form with two or more connecting leads or metallic pads

Contents

Motivation

Reasons for reverse-engineering:

Reverse engineering of mechanical devices

As computer-aided design has become more popular, reverse engineering has become a viable method to create a 3D virtual model of an existing physical part for use in 3D CAD, CAM, CAE and other software[1]. Computer-aided manufacturing ( CAM) is the use of computer-based software tools that assist engineers and machinists in manufacturing or prototyping product components Computer-aided engineering (often referred to as CAE) is the use of information technology for supporting engineers in tasks such as analysis simulation design manufacture The reverse engineering process involves measuring an object and then reconstructing it as a 3D model. The physical object can be measured using 3D scanning technologies like CMMs, laser scanners, structured light digitizers or computed tomography. A 3D scanner is a device that analyzes a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (i A 'coordinate measuring machine' (CMM is a device for measuring the physical geometrical characteristics of an object A 3D scanner is a device that analyzes a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (i A 3D scanner is a device that analyzes a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (i Computed tomography (CT is a Medical imaging method employing Tomography. The measured data alone, usually represented as a point cloud, lacks topological information and is therefore often processed and modeled into a more usable format such as a triangular faced mesh, a set of NURBS surfaces or a CAD model. A point cloud is a set of vertices in a three-dimensional coordinate system Non-uniform rational B-spline ( NURBS) is a mathematical model commonly used in Computer graphics for generating and representing curves and surfaces Applications like Imageware, PolyWorks, Rapidform or Geomagic are used to process the point clouds themselves into formats usable in other applications such as 3D CAD, CAM, CAE or visualization.

Reverse engineering is also used by businesses to bring existing physical geometry into digital product development environments, to make a digital 3D record of their own products or assess competitors' products. It is used to analyze, for instance, how a product works, what it does, what components it consists of, estimate costs, identify potential patent infringement, etc. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an

Value engineering is a related activity also used by business. Value engineering is a systematic method to improve the "value" of goods and services by using an examination of function It involves deconstructing and analysing products, but the objective is to find opportunities for cost cutting.

Reverse engineering of software

The term "reverse engineering" as applied to software means different things to different people, prompting Chikofsky and Cross to write a paper researching the various uses and defining a taxonomy. Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification The word comes from the Greek, taxis (meaning 'order' 'arrangement' and, nomos From their paper:
Reverse engineering is the process of analyzing a subject system to create representations of the system at a higher level of abstraction. [2] It can also be seen as "going backwards through the development cycle". [3] In this model, the output of the implementation phase (in source code form) is reverse engineered back to the analysis phase, in an inversion of the traditional waterfall model. The waterfall model is a sequential Software development process (a process for the creation of software in which development is seen as flowing steadily downwards Reverse engineering is a process of examination only: the software system under consideration is not modified (which would make it reengineering). The reengineering of Software was described by Chikofsky and Cross in their 1990 paper as "The examination and alteration of a system to reconstitute it in a new form" Software anti-tamper technology is used to deter both reverse engineering and reengineering of proprietary software and software-powered systems. Tamper resistance is resistance to tampering by either the normal users of a product package or system or others with physical access to it In practice, two main types of reverse engineering emerge. In the first case, source code is already available for the software, but higher level aspects of the program, perhaps poorly documented or documented but no longer valid, are discovered. In the second case, there is no source code available for the software, and any efforts towards discovering one possible source code for the software are regarded as reverse engineering. This second usage of the term is the one most people are familiar with. Reverse engineering of software can make use of the clean room design technique to avoid infringing copyrights. Clean room design (also known as the Chinese wall technique is the method of copying a design by Reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing The reverse engineering of software accounts for 95% of all instances of reverse engineering.

On a related note, black box testing in software engineering has a lot in common with reverse-engineering. Black box testing takes an external perspective of the test object to derive test cases Software engineering is the application of a systematic disciplined quantifiable approach to the development operation and maintenance of Software. The tester usually has the API, but their goals are to find bugs and undocumented features by bashing the product from outside.

Other purposes of reverse engineering include security auditing, removal of copy protection ("cracking"), circumvention of access restrictions often present in consumer electronics, customization of embedded systems (such as engine management systems), in-house repairs or retrofits, enabling of additional features on low-cost "crippled" hardware (such as some graphics card chipsets), or even mere satisfaction of curiosity. Software cracking is the modification of Software to remove protection methods Copy prevention, trial/demo version serial number hardware key CD check Consumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use An embedded system is a special-purpose Computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions often with Real-time computing constraints

Binary software

This process is sometimes termed Reverse Code Engineering or RCE. [4] As an example, decompilation of binaries for the Java platform can be accomplished using Jad. Java refers to a number of Computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems that together provide a system for developing Application software One famous case of reverse engineering was the first non-IBM implementation of the PC BIOS which launched the historic IBM PC compatible industry that has been the overwhelmingly dominant computer hardware platform for many years. International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology In Computing, the BIOS (ˈbaɪoʊs IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. An example of a group that reverse engineers software for enjoyment is CORE which stands for "Challenge Of Reverse Engineering". In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act exempts from the circumvention ban some acts of reverse engineering aimed at interoperability of file formats and protocols, but judges in key cases have ignored this law, since it is acceptable to circumvent restrictions for use, but not for access. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property [5] Aside from restrictions on circumvention, reverse engineering of software is protected in the U. S. by the fair use exception in copyright law. Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders such as use for Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for [6] The Samba software, which allows systems that are not running Microsoft Windows systems to share files with systems that are, is a classic example of software reverse engineering, since the Samba project had to reverse-engineer unpublished information about how Windows file sharing worked, so that non-Windows computers could emulate it. Samba is a Free software re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol, originally developed by Australian Andrew Tridgell Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. The Wine project does the same thing for the Windows API, and OpenOffice.org is one party doing this for the Microsoft Office file formats. Wine is a free Software application which aims to allow Unix-like computer Operating systems on the X86 architecture to execute The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of Application programming interfaces (APIs available in the Microsoft Windows Operating OpenOfficeorg ( OOo or OOo) is a free Cross-platform office application suite available for a number of different computer Microsoft Office is a set of interrelated desktop applications servers and services collectively referred to as an Office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and The ReactOS project is even more ambitious in its goals as it strives to provide binary (ABI and API) compatibility with the current Windows OSes of the NT branch, allowing software and drivers written for Windows to run on a clean room reverse engineered GPL open source counterpart. ReactOS is a computer Operating system intended to be binary-compatible with Application software and Device drivers made for Microsoft

Binary software techniques

Reverse engineering of software can be accomplished by various methods. The three main groups of software reverse engineering are

  1. Analysis through observation of information exchange, most prevalent in protocol reverse engineering, which involves using bus analyzers and packet sniffers, for example, for accessing a computer bus or computer network connection and revealing the traffic data thereon. A bus analyzer is a Computer bus analysis tool often a combination of Hardware and Software, used during development of hardware or Device drivers In Computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between computer components inside a Computer or between computers A computer network is a group of interconnected Computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics Bus or network behavior can then be analyzed to produce a stand-alone implementation that mimics that behavior. This is especially useful for reverse engineering device drivers. In computing a device driver or software driver is a Computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a Hardware device Sometimes reverse-engineering on embedded systems is greatly assisted by tools deliberately introduced by the manufacturer, such as JTAG ports or other debugging means. An embedded system is a special-purpose Computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions often with Real-time computing constraints Joint Test Action Group ( JTAG) is the usual name used for the IEEE 1149 In Microsoft Windows, low-level debuggers such as SoftICE are popular. Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. SoftICE is a Kernel mode Debugger for Microsoft Windows. Crucially it is designed to run underneath Windows such that the Operating system is
  2. Disassembly using a disassembler, meaning the raw machine language of the program is read and understood in its own terms, only with the aid of machine language mnemonics. A disassembler is a Computer program that translates Machine language into Assembly language —the inverse operation to that of an assembler. A disassembler is a Computer program that translates Machine language into Assembly language —the inverse operation to that of an assembler. Machine code or machine language is a system of instructions and data executed directly by a Computer 's Central processing unit. A mnemonic device (nəˈmɒnɪk is a Memory aid Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember This works on any computer program but can take quite some time, especially for someone not used to machine code. The Interactive Disassembler is a particularly popular tool. The Interactive Disassembler, more commonly known as simply IDA, is a commercial Disassembler widely used for Reverse engineering.
  3. Decompilation using a decompiler, a process that tries, with varying results, to recreate the source code in some high level language for a program only available in machine code or bytecode. A decompiler is the name given to a Computer program that performs the reverse operation to that of a Compiler.

Source code

A number of UML tools refer to the process of importing source code in order to generate UML diagrams, as "reverse engineering". See List of UML tools. This article lists Unified Modeling Language tools, classified by their proprietary or non-proprietary status

Reverse-engineering of integrated circuits/smart cards

Reverse Engineering is an invasive and destructive form of analyzing a smart card. The attacker grinds away layer by layer of the smart card and takes pictures with an electron-microscope. With this technique it is possible to reveal the complete hardware and software part of the smart card. The major problem for the attacker is to bring everything into the right order to find out how everything works. Engineers try to hide keys and operations by mixing up memory positions, for example busscrambling[7][8]. In some cases it is even possible to attach a probe to direct measure voltages while the smart card is still operational. Engineers employ sensors to detect and prevent this attack. [9] It takes very high effort to break a smart card used for payment e. g. , and the technical equipment is only available to large chip-producers. Additionally the gain is low due to other security mechanisms like shadow accounts.

Reverse-engineering for military applications

Reverse engineering is often used by military in order to copy other nations' technology, devices or information, or parts of which, have been obtained by regular troops in the fields or by intelligence operations. A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Military intelligence (abbreviated MI int Commonwealth, or intel It was often used during the Second World War and the Cold War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Well-known examples from WWII and later include:

Legality

In the United States and many other countries, even if an artifact or process is protected by trade secrets, reverse-engineering the artifact or process is often lawful as long as it is obtained legitimately. A trade secret is a Formula, practice, Process, Design, instrument, Pattern, or compilation of Information which Patents, on the other hand, need a public disclosure of an invention, and therefore patented items do not necessarily have to be reverse engineered to be studied. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an An invention is a new form composition of matter device or Process. One common motivation of reverse engineers is to determine whether a competitor's product contains patent infringements or copyright infringements. Patent infringement is the act of utilizing a patented Invention without permission from the Patent holder 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates

Reverse engineering software or hardware systems which is done for the purposes of interoperability (for example, to support undocumented file formats or undocumented hardware peripherals), is mostly believed to be legal, though patent owners often contest this and attempt to stifle any reverse engineering of their products for any reason. Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate

". . . [W]here disassembly is the only way to gain access to the ideas and functional elements embodied in a copyrighted computer program and where there is a legitimate reason for seeking such access, disassembly is a fair use of the copyrighted work, as a matter of law. "[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ T. The Antikythera mechanism (ˌæntɪkɪˈθɪərə an-ti-ki- theer -uh is an ancient mechanical Calculator (also described as the first known " mechanical Benchmarking is the process of comparing the cost time or quality of what one organization does against what another organization does A bus analyzer is a Computer bus analysis tool often a combination of Hardware and Software, used during development of hardware or Device drivers Clean room design (also known as the Chinese wall technique is the method of copying a design by Reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing Code morphing is one of the approaches to protect Software applications from Reverse engineering, analysis modifications and cracking used in Obfuscating software The Virtual Game Station (VGS was an Emulator by Connectix that allows Sony PlayStation A decompiler is the name given to a Computer program that performs the reverse operation to that of a Compiler. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Forensic Engineering is the investigation of materials, products, Structures or components that fail or do not operate/function as The Interactive Disassembler, more commonly known as simply IDA, is a commercial Disassembler widely used for Reverse engineering. Joseph Brant Arseneau (born 3 September 1967) is mainly known in finance for his ability aid banks in the development of trading and risk systems Knowledge Discovery Metamodel ( KDM) is publicly available specification from the Object Management Group (OMG Manufacturing and manufacturing systems Manufacturing Factory Craft production English A logic analyzer is an electronic instrument that displays signals in a Digital circuit that are too fast to be observed and presents it to a user so that the user can more easily Paycheck is a 2003 Film adaptation of the Short story of the same name by Science fiction writer Philip K Value engineering is a systematic method to improve the "value" of goods and services by using an examination of function Varady, R. R. Martin, J. Cox, Reverse Engineering of Geometric Models—An Introduction, Computer Aided Design 29 (4), 255-268, 1997.
  2. ^ Chikofsky, E. J. ; J. H. Cross II (January 1990). "Reverse Engineering and Design Recovery: A Taxonomy in IEEE Software". IEEE Computer Society: 13–17.  
  3. ^ Warden, R. (1992). Software Reuse and Reverse Engineering in Practice. London, England: Chapman & Hall, 283–305.  
  4. ^ Chuvakin, Anton; Cyrus Peikari (January 2004). Security Warrior, 1st ed. , O'Reilly. Retrieved on 2006-05-25. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors.  
  5. ^ US Code: Title 17,1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems. Retrieved on 2006-05-25. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors.
  6. ^ See Pamela Samuelson and Suzanne Scotchmer, "The Law and Economics of Reverse Engineering", 111 Yale Law Journal 1575-1663 (May 2002). Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M Sherman '74 Distinguished Professor of Law and Information Management at the University of California Berkeley with a joint appointment in
  7. ^ Wolfgang Rankl, Wolfgang Effing, Smart Card Handbook (2004)
  8. ^ T. Welz: Smart cards as methods for payment (2008), Seminar ITS-Security Ruhr-Universität Bochum, "http://www.crypto.rub.de/its_seminar_ws0708.html"
  9. ^ David C. Musker: Protecting & Exploiting Intellectual Property in Electronics, IBC Conferences, 10 June 1998
  10. ^ Sega v. Accolade, 203 F. 3d 596 (9th Cir. 1993)

External links

Dictionary

reverse engineering

-noun

  1. The process of analyzing the construction and operation of a product in order to manufacture a similar one.
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