The thing protecting your software's secrets wasn't encryption. Tt was that almost nobody could read compiled code. Now AI can. For dollars. In minutes.
The few thousand people worldwide who could reverse engineer binaries were the entire moat protecting IP, firmware security, and software as a discipline. That scarcity is gone.
saidnooneever•1h ago
few thousand? this binaries being a protection has been changing for a long time already by drm, sgx and other means. there has been a steady increase in complexity and effectiveness in hiding stuff through drm/encryption and other schemes.
just that some LLM calls it a moat or rare skill is nonsense. there are whole industries in which its normal dayjob for people to reverse engineer binaries let alone for the thousands upon thousands that graduate technical programs each year and can do proper RE. then ofc many thousands of hobby people who are likely some of the most sharp RE people out there.. huge communities reversing games, consoles, firmwares....
calebfenton•1h ago
The few thousand people worldwide who could reverse engineer binaries were the entire moat protecting IP, firmware security, and software as a discipline. That scarcity is gone.
saidnooneever•1h ago
just that some LLM calls it a moat or rare skill is nonsense. there are whole industries in which its normal dayjob for people to reverse engineer binaries let alone for the thousands upon thousands that graduate technical programs each year and can do proper RE. then ofc many thousands of hobby people who are likely some of the most sharp RE people out there.. huge communities reversing games, consoles, firmwares....
AI promoting AI