Practical Reverse Engineering
by Bruce Dang, Alexandre Gazet, Elias Bachaalany · first published 2014
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Covers x86, x64, ARM, the Windows kernel, debugging and automation, and obfuscation. It is a solid, more recent companion to Reversing for software reverse engineering work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Aims to demystify the art and systemize the reverse-engineering process for students and professionals.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2009–2020The shellcoder's handbook
Chris Anley, John Heasman, Felix Linder, Gerardo Richarte
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 98 recommend · 9 mention8 recommend · 98 recommend
2013–2017A tangled web
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
2013–2017The IDA Pro book
Chris Eagle
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 75 recommend · 7 mention5 recommend · 75 recommend
2013–2024Practical Malware Analysis
Michael Sikorski, Andrew Honig
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 1613 recommend · 16 mention13 recommend · 1613 recommend
2009–2017Gray hat Python
Justin Seitz
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 85 recommend · 8 mention5 recommend · 85 recommend
2009–2025Reversing
Eldad Eilam
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 119 recommend · 11 mention9 recommend · 119 recommend
2008–2025The art of software security assessment
Mark Dowd, John McDonald, Justin Schuh
Recommended by 21 · mentioned by 3121 recommend · 31 mention21 recommend · 3121 recommend
…_________________ Do Read: 1. The Web Application Hacker's Handbook - It's beginning to show its age, but this is still absolutely the first book I'd point anyone to for learning practical application security. 2. Practical Reverse Engineering - Yep, this is great. As the title implies, it's a good practical guide and will teach many of the "heavy" skills instead of just a platform-specific book targeted to something like iOS. Maybe supplement…
on “Cybersecurity Humble Book Bundle” ↗…good introduction to aspects of reverse engineering and the typical work an e.g. security consultant will do at a top firm. 7. Practical Malware Analysis Very good introduction to malware analysis. 8. Practical Reverse Engineering This book, along with #9 will teach you everything you need to know to effectively reverse engineer software for security-focused analysis. 9. Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering 10. The IDA…
on “Ask HN: What are the best books for learning information security?” ↗Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering de Eldad Eilam Practical Reverse Engineering: x86, x64, ARM, Windows Kernel, Reversing Tools, and Obfuscation de Bruce Dang, Alexandre Gazet, Elias Bachaalany, Sébastien Josse Cryptography Engineering de Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier, Tadayoshi…
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn network/app security on my own?” ↗Here's a good book on software reverse engineering (SRE): https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Reverse-Engineering-Reversi... It won't help you with PowerPC, but the chapter list is: x86 and x64, ARM, The Windows Kernel, Debugging and Automation, and Obfuscation. The book was written in 2014, so it should be reasonably…
on “How I cut GTA Online loading times by 70%” ↗Practical reverse engineering by Bruce Dang
on “Ask HN: Recommend book on reverse engineering / static analysis” ↗…in operating systems and major OS applications), you'll want to learn reverse engineering. Start with Hacking: The Art of Exploitation and then proceed to Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering or Practical Reverse Engineering. You'll also want to read The Art of Software Security Assessment and Security Engineering alongside those, to develop excellent source code auditing and binary penetration testing skills. Frankly you…
on “High frequency security bug hunting: 120 days, 120 bugs” ↗…engineering. There are two books that I frequently recommend on the topic: 1. Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering - this is the most popular recommendation and its a great resource to work through. 2. Practical Reverse Engineering - This is a new comer (2014) but I quite like it. It isn't as 'complete' as Reversing is but it covers a wider rage of topics that I find more useful. 3. (Bonus) Malware Analyst's Cookbook - Malware…
on “Ask HN: What's the prerequisite to become an exploit developer?” ↗…can't possibly recommend this. It's obviously written by amateurs / people with minimal experience of the domain. Much better resources are Eldad Eilam's "Secrets of Reverse Engineering", for Windows "Practical Reverse Engineering" and for the absolute basics, Patterson's "Computer Organization and Design".
on “Reverse Engineering for Everyone” ↗…is quite a joke, IMHO that should go to the 1 USD level but anyway as someone said Applied Cryptography might be the selling point here. Personally speaking the only books valuable in this bundle are "Practical Reverse Engineering: x86, x64, ARM, Windows Kernel, Reversing Tools, and Obfuscation" and "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C, 20th Anniversary Edition" the other are either quite outdated,…
on “Cybersecurity Humble Book Bundle” ↗…approach reversing a program and what to focus on to not waste too much time. Once you worked through that CTFs should be much more approachable. Reverse Engineering: Secrets of Reverse Engineering and Practical Reverse Engineering are also often mentioned as good books, but I personally haven’t read them. Aside from that, the books from nostarch.com are great. If you want to learn more about windows itself, there are the “windows…
on “IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired” ↗