Tools of the Reverse Engineering Trade Dis-assemblers are used to dis-assemble the binary into readable (at least, semi-readable) code. IDA Pro and PE Explorer are two popular dis-assemblers. De-compilers convert programs from an intermediate language like Java bytecode to their more highly readable original source code. Reflector for .Net and DJ Decompiler for Java are powerful de-compilers. Debuggers are used to step through and trace the flow of programs. SoftIce is the most popular debugger. OllyDbg is another powerful debugger. Resource monitoring tools are used to track the usage of files and registry entries. The PSTools suite from Sysinternals is a favorite. |