Random Monday : Fravia.org - Web Searching & Reverse Engineering Knowledgebase
After last week’s F-Secure Reversing Challenge 2007, I suddenly felt like writing about one of my favourite reverse engineering sites 
Fravia’s original site @ www.fravia.org was one of my most frequently visited sites when I first discovered the Internet some ten years back. It was a treasure trove of hard-to-find reverse-engineering information at a time when reverse-engineering was generally misunderstood as a black art mainly associated with software cracking.
Although the site design might not have kept up with the times i.e no dynamically generated pages, AJAX scripting etc, the design was unusually clean and easy to navigate compared to other sites during the Geocities era where blinking text and banners were commonplace.
Anyway, the real value of Fravia’s site laid in the fact that it was one of the first communities for knowlege sharing between reverse engineers throughout the world. Rare information (originally focussing on cracking protection schemes) contributed by enthusiasts created a database of useful knowledge for newbies and skilled reverse engineers alike. The focus later shifted to pure reverse-engineering to improve on software without needing the original source and finally in 2000, Fravia abandoned the entire reverse engineering content - but not his well-known anti-commercial attitude - to concentrate on the art of web searching @ www.fravia.com (originally www.searchlores.org (currently down) ).
Some recommended pages at the new fravia.com are webbits, tools and books & books & dark riders - learn to fully utilize your search engine to find the stuff that you seek.
The writings and techniques presented at original fravia.org influenced me a lot - I developed a love for 32 bit Windows assembly programming from reversing and injecting code in other applications to add extra functionality as well as the love for searching and learning stuff online (so much that I haven’t been studying for any certifications other than my diploma - something that I’m sure will screw me up in the future in paper-obsessed SG)
The original reverse-engineering pages are still available at Fravia’s archive pages of reverse engineering over at RCE Messagboard for those interested in this particular field of computing. More white hat reverse-engineering stuff are also available at www.openrce.org.
MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
F-Secure Reverse Engineering Challenge 2007
Reverse Engineering Mentoring Wiki
