Reverse engineering can be a daunting field to enter, but with the right tools and resources, you can make significant progress. Here are some of the top tools recommended by Redditors for beginners in reverse engineering:

Disassemblers and Decompilers

• Ghidra: A free and open-source reverse engineering tool suite developed by the NSA. It includes a disassembler, decompiler, and a scripting engine. "Ghidra is open source made by the NSA I believe. Pretty useful as a holistic reverse engineering tool."

• Binary Ninja: A commercial tool that offers a user-friendly interface and powerful features for reverse engineering. "Binary Ninja also is a good alternative, I actually prefer this one since it feels easier read than Ghidra and has mostly similar features."

• IDA Pro: A highly regarded commercial disassembler and decompiler. While expensive, there is a free version available for x64 architectures. "IDA free for x64"

Debuggers

• OllyDbg: A 32-bit assembler level analyzing debugger for Microsoft Windows. "I began using OllyDbg to step through game code while it's running, and basically learned x86 by doing so."

• x64dbg: A 64-bit open-source debugger for Windows. "DBGX64 is enough."

• WinDbg: A powerful debugger from Microsoft that supports kernel-mode and user-mode debugging. "Ghidra, gdb and windbg."

Hex Editors

• HxD: A fast and flexible hex editor for Windows. "HxD and hexedit are pretty good"

• ImHex: A hex editor with advanced features like data visualization and scripting. "https://github.com/WerWolv/ImHex"

Other Useful Tools

• CyberChef: A web-based tool for various cyber operations, including data encoding, decoding, and encryption. "Keep CyberChef bookmarked and/or open in a tab."

• REMnux: A Linux distribution specifically designed for reverse engineering and malware analysis. "If you're specifically trying to reverse engineer malicious software and such I'd also suggest putting together a little box in the cloud running the Linux based OS REMnux"

• MalwareBazaar: A repository of malware samples for practice. "You can get a lot of malware samples in MalwareBazaar."

Learning Resources

• Crackmes.one: A collection of small programs designed to be reverse engineered. "Good for practice."

• pwn.college: A platform with challenges and educational content on reverse engineering and other low-level topics. "pwn.college might be helpful."

• Practical Malware Analysis: A highly recommended book for learning malware analysis, which includes reverse engineering techniques. "Practical malware analysis from Sikorski is a really good read."

Subreddits for Further Questions

• r/computerscience

• r/cybersecurity

• r/ExploitDev

These tools and resources should provide a solid foundation for anyone looking to dive into the world of reverse engineering. Happy hacking!