Beginning with a basic primer on reverse engineering-including computer internals operating systems & assembly language-and then discussing the various applications of reverse engineering this book provides readers with practical in-depth techniques for software reverse engineering The book is broken into two parts the first deals with security-related reverse engineering & the second explores the more practical aspects of reverse engineering In addition the author explains how to reverse engineer a third-party software library to improve interfacing & how to reverse engineer a competitor's software to build a better product The first popular book to show how software reverse engineering can help defend against security threats speed up development & unlock the secrets of competitive products Helps developers plug security holes by demonstrating how hackers exploit reverse engineering techniques to crack copy-protection schemes & identify software targets for viruses & other malware Offers a primer on advanced reverse-engineering delving into disassembly-code-level reverse engineering-and explaining how to decipher assembly language