The HackadayU video series on learning to use Ghidra is now available!
Ghidra is a tool for reverse engineering software binaries — you may remember that it was released as Open Source by the NSA last year. It does an amazing job of turning compiled binaries that tell the computer how to operate into human-readable C code. The catch is that there’s a learning curve to making the most out of what Ghidra gives you. Enter the Introduction to Reverse Engineering with Ghidra class led by Matthew Alt as part of the HackadayU series. This set of four one-hour virtual classroom videos were just made available so that you can take the course at your own pace.
Matthew has actually been schooling us for a while. He’s also known as [wrongbaud] and we’ve been spending a lot of time covering his reverse engineering projects, including the teardowns of NES-on-a-chip hardware and his excellent hacker’s guide to JTAG. His HackadayU class continues that legacy by pulling together course materials for a high-quality hands-on walk through Ghidra. You’ll get a dose of computer architecture, the compilation process, ELF file structure, and x86_64 instructions sets along the way. He’s done a superb job of making example code for the coursework available.
While this was the first HackadayU course, there are more on the way. Anool Mahidharia just finished teaching KiCAD & FreeCAD 101 and videos will be published a soon as the editing process is complete. The fall lineup of classes is shaping up nicely and will be announced soon. As a sneak peak, we have instructors working on classes covering tiny machine learning, a second set of classes on Ghidra reverse engineering, a protocol deep dive (I2C, SPI, one-wire, JTAG etc.), Linux on Raspberry Pi, building interactive art, and all about LEDs, and an intro to design with Rhino. Keep your eye on Hackaday for more info as classes are added to the schedule.