At the RSA security conference today, the National Security Agency, released Ghidra, a free software reverse engineering tool that the agency had been using internally for well over a decade.The tool is ideal for software engineers, but will be especially useful for malware analysts first and foremost.The NSA's general plan was to release Ghidra so security researchers can get used to working with it before applying for positions at the NSA or other government intelligence agencies with which the NSA has previously shared Ghidra in private.Ghidra is currently available for download only through its official website, but the NSA also plans to release its source code under an open source license on GitHub in the coming future.News that the NSA was going to release Ghidra first broke at the start of the year, and the tool has been on everybody's mind for the past two months. The reason is that Ghidra is a free alternative to IDA Pro, a similar reverse engineering tool … [Read more...] about NSA release Ghidra, a free software reverse engineering toolkit
A graphical user interface
Apple’s greatest hits: The best Apple stuff ever including the iPhone, iPad and a couple of computers too
Like your favourite band, your favourite tech firm probably has had its share of hits and misses. But unlike many bands, Apple has had more than its fair share of absolute bangers.Apple may get it wrong from time to time, but when it gets it right it has an incredible effect: while some firms dream of changing the world just once, Apple has transformed tech again and again and again.Come with us as we discover Apple’s floor fillers, the absolute bangers that have us waving our arms in the air like we just don’t care.Macintosh (1984)The Mac was a triumph. It was the first mass-market computer with a graphical user interface and mouse, and it was specifically designed to be used by normal people. As Steve Jobs told Apple staff in 1984, it was “insanely great”. Apple had tried to make a graphical computer before with the Lisa, but it cost more than a car; the Macintosh was better and an awful lot cheaper too. But Apple wasn’t going to take any risks, and it … [Read more...] about Apple’s greatest hits: The best Apple stuff ever including the iPhone, iPad and a couple of computers too
Tim Cook celebrates 35 years of Macintosh with a tweet
Today is the 35th birthday of the first Macintosh computer, and Apple CEO Tim Cook took to twitter to mark the occasion. Back on this day in 1984, Steve Jobs, dressed a suit and bowtie, introduced the Macintosh at Apple's shareholders meeting at the Flint Center in Cupertino. From the stage, he promised the audience that "all of the images you are about to see on the large screen will be generated by what's in that bag." He uncovered the Mac, pulled out a disk, inserted it into the 3.5-inch drive and started up the machine. Though his on-stage attire then lacked the gravity of the black turtleneck and jeans combo that would become his trademark, Jobs was already a master showman. You can watch the first five minutes of his presentation in the video embedded below. The Macintosh was launched a year after Apple's previous attempt to bring a graphical user interface to the market -- the $10,000 LISA, which flopped. Though the $2,495 Mac wasn't cheap, it proved to be … [Read more...] about Tim Cook celebrates 35 years of Macintosh with a tweet
As Apple Macintosh turns 35, Android, Linux, OS X users get to run its classic apps
Mac hacker Josh Juran has built an emulator, dubbed Advanced Mac Substitute (AMS), which promises to run old Mac apps compiled for Motorola 68000-series CPUs on modern hardware. With Apple's Macintosh today marking the 35th anniversary of its launch, the project could offer fans of Mac apps from 1984 a chance to relive the experience on Linux, Mac OS X, and Android devices. One of the key goals of the AMS project, spotted by Ars Technica, is to run the apps without needing a copy of old MacOS installation CDs as is needed for other Mac OS emulators. Juran describes AMS as an 'API-level reimplementation of classic Mac OS'. The only hardware AMS emulates is the 68000 CPU, and it's built to work without an Apple ROM or system software. Old games that Juran demos working in AMS to varying degrees include The Fool's Errand, the Amazing maze puzzle, Solitaire, Missile, and an animation of NyanCat. Apps that come with AMS available on GitHub include … [Read more...] about As Apple Macintosh turns 35, Android, Linux, OS X users get to run its classic apps
NSA to release a free reverse engineering tool
The US National Security Agency will release a free reverse engineering tool at the upcoming RSA security conference that will be held at the start of March, in San Francisco.The software's name is GHIDRA and in technical terms, is a disassembler, a piece of software that breaks down executable files into assembly code that can then be analyzed by humans.The NSA developed GHIDRA at the start of the 2000s, and for the past few years, it's been sharing it with other US government agencies that have cyber teams who need to look at the inner workings of malware strains or suspicious software.GHIDRA's existence was never a state secret, but the rest of the world learned about it in March 2017 when WikiLeaks published Vault7, a collection of internal documentation files that were allegedly stolen from the CIA's internal network. Those documents showed that the CIA was one of the agencies that had access to the tool.According to these documents, GHIDRA is coded in Java, has a graphical user … [Read more...] about NSA to release a free reverse engineering tool