Reverse engineering: what is it?

reverse engineering (reverse engineering, in English) finds its origin in the analysis of material for commercial or military advantage. It is an analysis aimed at inferring the design characteristics of products with little or no additional knowledge of the procedures involved in their original production. In some cases, the goal of the reverse engineering process may simply be re-documentation of existing systems. Even when the product being reverse-engineered is that of a competitor, the objective may not be to copy it but to perform a competition. Reverse engineering can also be used to create interoperable products, and despite some very specific U.S. and European legislation, the legality of using specific reverse engineering techniques for this purpose has been hotly contested by courts around the world ever since. more than two decades.

Why do reverse engineering in computer science?

The reverse engineering of software can help improve understanding of source code underlying and is widely used in the field ofemulation. Relevant information can be extracted and can provide alternative views regarding the source codewhich can help detect and correct a bug or a software vulnerability. Often, as software is developed, information about its design and improvements is lost over time, but this lost information can usually be recovered through reverse engineering. This process can also help reduce the time it takes to understand the source code, which lowers the overall cost of software development.

Computer reverse engineering can also help detect and eliminate malicious code written into software. the mapping of a source code can be used to find other uses of said code, for example to detect unauthorized reproduction of the source code, where it was not intended to be used, or to reveal how the product of a competitor was built. This process is commonly used to “crack” software and media to remove their copy protection (DRM), or to create a possibly improved copy or even a substitute copy, which is usually the goal of a competitor or a pirate.