Mastering Reverse Engineering

Packers, crypters, obfuscators, protectors and SFX

Executable files can have the code packed, encrypted and obfuscated but remain executable with all of the program intact. These techniques are primarily aimed at protecting the program from being reversed. The rule is that if the original program works properly, it can be reversed. For the rest of the chapter, we will define the term host or original program as the executable file, data, or code before it gets packed, encrypted, obfuscated or protected.