The main use cases are IT security audits, internal stress testing, bug bounty programs, investigating new virus samples and validating security concerns. Hex-Rays’ flagship product IDA Pro allows IT security professionals to effectively translate a software’s binary code (consisting of ones and zeros) into a human readable text (an approximation of the software’s actual source code), to reveal and understand its original design, architecture, and logic. Ilfak Guilfanov, the founder of Hex-Rays and architect of the technology platform, also reinvests a substantial amount in the new structure.įounded in 2005, Hex-Rays developed a set of best-in-class software reverse engineering tools for mainly IT security companies and government organisations. The author of this article assumes you're already familiar with IDA HOME or IDA PRO.Liège (BE), Octo– Hex-Rays, a Belgian cybersecurity company that develops advanced reverse engineering software solutions, has been acquired by a consortium of investors led by Smartfin, a leading European venture capital and private equity investor, and including co-investors SFPIM and SRIW. Therefore a direct comparison static vs dynamic analysis is not that straightforward. Any protected executable (read obfuscated) must be dumped from memory and the IAT may need to be fixed manually before a binary can be properly analysed statically despite tools used. Here is a list of free alternatives to IDA that are currently included in the article: HEX DEREF and GHIDRAĭepending on your reverse engineering task, often you will have to do a full analysisīy combining both techniques.

If you need to do dynamic analysis, try out HEX DEREF because as it has one of the most fastest, if not the fastest code analysis feature (an initial analysis in IDA PRO). I would start off with Ghidra (intended for static analysis). If you're looking for free IDA alternatives. This article covers free IDA PRO alternatives, IDA HOME alternatives and IDA-like alternatives that are in active development, are somewhat rival to IDA PRO, suitable either for static or dynamic analysis and has a disassembler and debugger.

Ida hexrays