Reverse engineering is a detailed examination and analysis of a product/system construction and/or components in order to learn how it was designed and/or how it functions. The reason to perform reverse engineering varies from product development to cybersecurity to litigation. Today, due to internet security threats, reverse engineering network protocols is essential. However, reverse engineering a network protocol is tedious, complex and error-prone. To be time- and cost-effective, it requires a precise, detailed plan and a particular set of tools and techniques.
What is Network Protocol Reverse Engineering?
Network protocols are a set of rules, procedures and/or methods for transmitting data between computer networks. Overall, in order to exchange information across networks, there must be a pre-existing understanding of how the data will be structured and how each system will send and receive it. Reverse engineering may be used to discover a network’s known and/or hidden protocols and specifications for transferring and storing data/information. This is done without access to the source code used in writing the protocol’s computer program.
By reverse engineering, you can clearly understand all the ins and outs of a network. This includes understanding its vulnerabilities and identifying malware and viruses. There is no doubt that reverse engineering is an essential tool in cybersecurity.
What Are Some of the Modern Threats to Businesses?
Today, modern businesses embrace the technological advancements of dissemination and storage of information by turning to cloud platforms and abandoning local storage devices. While they can benefit from specific security and logistical advantages, they are not entirely free from danger. Even the most advanced cloud storage platforms cannot completely secure your information from hackers. Seasoned hackers can still abuse the algorithms of the cloud-based platform to gain access to private/confidential information.
The problem worsens when more and more businesses move their proprietary information and business data to cloud-based platforms. This increases the incentive for the hackers to develop sophisticated techniques to hack popular platforms. As a result, the probability of data theft increases. Of course, the cloud platform providers are keen on keeping their platforms safe and secure but constantly addressing vulnerabilities they discover. However, it is difficult to create a patch for a vulnerability or threat you don’t know exists.
How Reverse Engineering Can Prevent Cybersecurity Threats
Cybersecurity experts can use reverse engineering to strengthen data protection and find security deficiency in data storage encryption, and decryption key mechanisms. Once the experts teardown the network’s protocols and identify any problems, they can find the solution and improve the present security by implementing additional layers. There is no ‘magic solution’ to solve all security issues, especially in a complex platform such as cloud-based storage.
Security experts also use reverse engineering to fight against zero-day exploits. To find the weak points hackers exploit, security experts have to analyze the security system from the outside to the inside. Once they identify the areas with a problem, they can then modify the code and improve the system’s defense.
By repeating this process frequently, it becomes challenging and costly for hackers to try and break into the system.
GHB Intellect Provides Support on Reverse Engineering Issues
The best way to prevent a data breach is by creating a robust security system through reverse engineering. A cybersecurity expert performs penetration testing to attempt to find multiple entry points into your system. They then use reverse engineering to find information on all protocols and possible access routes into your system. Only then can they create a solution to fix the existing problem and ensure that your system is fully secure.
At GHB Intellect, reverse engineering is a core service we offer. We have the capability to reverse engineer circuitry, software/firmware code, processes, systems, networks, and protocols. Contact us today for more information.