Practical Aspects of Employing Antireverse Engineering
James Bret Michael · IT Professional · 2020
A tension exists between transparency and protecting the confidentiality of the inner workings of electronic systems. The acquirer of the electronic system may desire or be required to perform its own assurance of the system’s fitness for use, requiring access to those innards. For example, the acquirer may need to ensure that the electronic system is interoperable with the acquirer’s other systems (e.g., semantic interoperability among heterogeneous Internet of Things devices). This might require detailed knowledge of the electronic system’s application programming interfaces or system-specific network protocols. As another example, the acquirer may be required by a regulatory authority to determine whether the electronic system can be used safely in particular context of use, necessitating the collection of information about the system for use in hazard analyses.