Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is the process of deconstructing a product, system, or technology to understand how it works. Unlike traditional engineering, which involves designing and building systems from the ground up, reverse engineering involves taking something that already exists and breaking it down into its parts to discover the underlying principles or mechanisms.

This technique is commonly used in software, hardware, and other fields to analyze and understand the structure, function, and behavior of an object or system.

Reverse engineering can be applied for various reasons, each serving a different purpose:

• Learning and Education: One of the most common reasons for reverse engineering is to learn how a system works. By analyzing the inner workings of a product, students, hobbyists, and professionals can gain a deeper understanding of the technology and methods used in its creation.
  
  

• Compatibility and Interoperability: Companies often reverse-engineer products to ensure compatibility with other systems or to create products that can work seamlessly with existing technologies. For example, software developers may reverse-engineer a file format to create applications that can read or write that format.
  
  

• Security Analysis: In the field of cybersecurity, reverse engineering is used to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software or hardware. Security experts can analyze malware or other malicious code to understand how it operates and develop countermeasures to protect systems from attacks.
  
  

• Product Improvement: By understanding how a competitor’s product works, companies can identify ways to improve their offerings. This could involve enhancing features, reducing costs, or optimizing performance.
  
  

• Legacy System Maintenance: When dealing with outdated or unsupported systems, reverse engineering can help in maintaining, updating, or integrating these systems with newer technologies. This is particularly important when the original documentation is no longer available.

Reverse engineering is used in various industries and fields, each with unique applications:

• Software Reverse Engineering: This involves analyzing software code to understand its structure and functionality. It can be used to recover lost source code, debug and optimize software, or study malware behavior.
  
  

• Hardware Reverse Engineering: Involves disassembling physical devices to study their components and how they interact. This can include anything from consumer electronics to complex machinery.
  
  

• Biological Reverse Engineering: Scientists and researchers reverse-engineer biological systems, such as the human brain or cellular structures, to understand how they function and to develop new medical treatments or technologies.
  
  

• Chemical Reverse Engineering: In the pharmaceutical industry, reverse engineering is used to analyze the composition of chemical substances, such as drugs, to replicate or improve them.
  
  

• Automotive and Aerospace: Engineers reverse-engineer vehicle parts and systems to create aftermarket components, improve performance, or ensure that new designs are compatible with existing infrastructure.

While reverse engineering is a valuable tool, it also raises legal and ethical concerns. In many cases, reverse engineering may infringe on intellectual property rights, such as patents or copyrights. For example, reverse-engineering software to create a copy of a proprietary program could be considered illegal.

However, there are instances where reverse engineering is legally permissible, such as for interoperability, security research, or when authorized by the owner. It is crucial for individuals and organizations engaging in reverse engineering to understand the legal implications and ensure that their actions comply with relevant laws and regulations.

Reverse engineering is a powerful technique that plays a vital role in understanding, analyzing, and improving products, systems, and technologies. Whether used for learning, security, compatibility, or innovation, reverse engineering provides valuable insights that drive technological progress. However, it is essential to navigate the legal and ethical considerations associated with reverse engineering to ensure that it is used responsibly and within the bounds of the law.

Client-side vulnerabilities and web page protection in JavaScript go hand-in-hand when the concern is client-side security. JavaScript security threats and risks are a real concern. Moreover, JavaScript may represent a security vulnerability for businesses when the source code is provided by third-party providers, for example.

• First-Party JavaScript - The code an organization generates may have been secure when written. However, the code may have been tampered with after it went into production or reverse-engineered by malicious actors.

• Third-Party JavaScript - JavaScript code originating from third-party sources poses a significant risk because it has all the same privileges as first-party JavaScript code. Since there are no default security settings for third-party JavaScript, the organization that operates the website or app pulling in that code is responsible for enforcing security and continuous monitoring.

• Use of Forms and Secure Form Data - More than 90% of websites use forms to collect users’ personal information. Therefore, businesses must be committed to preventing breaches. On average, the personal information collected has a high level of exposure, involving more than 15 third-party domains, which increases the risk of unauthorized access to data and script misbehaviors.

Why do businesses need client-side security?

Client-side attacks have increased in cost and scale as companies expand their investments in the end-user digital experience. From Jscramblers’ experience, we give three fundamentals to start improvising the client-side security of your applications:

• Identify all third-party JavaScripts running on your web applications and website;

• Understand what these third-party JavaScripts are doing and why;

• Define which scripts are allowed to access data in forms on payment pages and block those that should not.

Web applications typically load 20 or more third-party scripts as part of the digital user experience. By not developing a client-side security strategy and approach, security teams allow third-party code libraries to run amok on their servers.

The relevance of third-party scripts for users’ digital experience creates a JavaScript supply chain, and the lack of client-side security measures generates potential vulnerabilities to a software supply chain implemented almost in real-time on users’ devices. That said:

• For businesses that accept online payments, users’ browsers may be facing a silent war.

• Website forms are open windows for data breaches.

• It is urgent to control third-party script behaviors on the client side, including tracking pixels and chatbots.