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IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

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Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#11

Post by mike_d »

stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

Very little. Everyone who was passing around pirated copies of IDA continued to do so before and after the release of Ghidra. More than anything I think binary.ninja started to eat their lunch because it was a far superior experience and up front reasonable pricing.

Hex-Rays did ultimately release IDA Home, but you have to sign up for an account to even find out what their hobbyist license costs.

I cannot underscore how much Hex Rays never wanted to have customers or sell products. Maybe this restructuring will fix that?

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#13

Post by tptacek »

mike_d wrote: post #11
stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

Very little. Everyone who was passing around pirated copies of IDA continued to do so before and after the release of Ghidra. More than anything I think binary.ninja started to eat their lunch because it was a far superior experience and up front reasonable pricing. Hex-Rays did ultimately release IDA Home, but you have to sign up for an account to even find out what their hobbyist license costs. I cannot underscore…

They were, according to this, doing 20MM in 2020, which is surprisingly high for something like IDA. I think they mostly just don't want people like us as clients.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#14

Post by yakkityyak »

stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

I ended up buying Binary Ninja for hobbyist projects instead. Worked great for doing a bit of Gameboy Advance rom hacking.

IDA Pro for ARM w/ a decompiler is the cost of a used car.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#15

Post by [deleted] »

yakkityyak wrote: post #14
stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

I ended up buying Binary Ninja for hobbyist projects instead. Worked great for doing a bit of Gameboy Advance rom hacking. IDA Pro for ARM w/ a decompiler is the cost of a used car.

[deleted]

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#16

Post by bri3d »

mike_d wrote: post #11
stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

Very little. Everyone who was passing around pirated copies of IDA continued to do so before and after the release of Ghidra. More than anything I think binary.ninja started to eat their lunch because it was a far superior experience and up front reasonable pricing. Hex-Rays did ultimately release IDA Home, but you have to sign up for an account to even find out what their hobbyist license costs. I cannot underscore…

I disagree with this for a non-direct sales reason: before, you learned IDA, cracked or not. If you learned to reverse software of any kind, you acquired IDA.

Now, more and more tutorials and introductions use Ghidra. Is it better than IDA? In some cases yes, in most not yet, but it’s easier to get.

If I were Hex-Rays, I’d be very concerned with a generational shift as people stop bothering to pirate IDA and those who learned on Ghidra enter the industry and don’t demand an IDA license.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#17

Post by tptacek »

yakkityyak wrote: post #14
stolen_biscuit wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what impact if any the release of Ghidra had on Hex-Rays? IDA never really accommodated to the hobbyist, so I wonder did it have any impact on the commercial side of things apart from the IDA Home release?

I ended up buying Binary Ninja for hobbyist projects instead. Worked great for doing a bit of Gameboy Advance rom hacking. IDA Pro for ARM w/ a decompiler is the cost of a used car.

It's roughly the cost of a very good Macbook, right? Many companies that employ the kinds of people who spend their days in IDA don't bat an eye at the cost of the laptops.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#18

Post by pseudo0 »

rjzzleep wrote: post #10
pseudo0 wrote: post #8

Hopefully this works out for Hex-Rays, allowing them to invest more into developing IDA and expanding their low-cost product offerings. The general sentiment I have seen among people doing SRE is that IDA is rapidly losing market share to Ghidra. While it excels in some areas, the licenses are pricy even for tech employers, and entirely out of reach for students or colleges. It's hard to convince an employer to fork…

For me I got the Company I was contracting for to buy me an IDA license and as I was trying to take over from there Hexrays never responded to any requests. I'm guessing that I'm on the same pirate blacklist that a lot of people landed. I guess I should have expensed it instead of having the Company buy it. I was the only person doing RE work, it was a single user person license and I was also the only linux user out…

I don't think Ghidra has a proper FLIRT equivalent yet. That's one of those bells and whistles that may (or may not) be worth the license fee, along with in my opinion a more polished UI.

Just to clarify, if I wasn't concerned with budget and had to pick a product today, I'd still go with IDA, but the mindshare among new hires and interns is swinging pretty rapidly towards Ghidra. If they are able to continue adding features (with US government funding, and open source development), IDA is right to be worried about whether they will still be the best choice in 5 years.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#19

Post by hunter-gatherer »

bri3d wrote: post #16
mike_d wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very little. Everyone who was passing around pirated copies of IDA continued to do so before and after the release of Ghidra. More than anything I think binary.ninja started to eat their lunch because it was a far superior experience and up front reasonable pricing. Hex-Rays did ultimately release IDA Home, but you have to sign up for an account to even find out what their hobbyist license costs. I cannot underscore…

I disagree with this for a non-direct sales reason: before, you learned IDA, cracked or not. If you learned to reverse software of any kind, you acquired IDA. Now, more and more tutorials and introductions use Ghidra. Is it better than IDA? In some cases yes, in most not yet, but it’s easier to get. If I were Hex-Rays, I’d be very concerned with a generational shift as people stop bothering to pirate IDA and those wh…

This just came up in my current org a couple months ago and we cancelled our IDA licenses to start using Ghidra. Ghidra is ver capable in my opinion.

When I was in the US Gov there were plenty of IDA licenses floating around despitr the existence of Ghidra. The Gov thinking was basically "better to have it and not need it instead of need it and not have it". There must be a thousand licenses that never get used year after year. I suspect IDA is safe for a while for this reason alone, but of course could be wrong and don't have the numbers-just speculation.

Re: IDA cybersecurity software provider Hex-Rays acquired

#20

Post by pseudo0 »

tptacek wrote: post #17
yakkityyak wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ended up buying Binary Ninja for hobbyist projects instead. Worked great for doing a bit of Gameboy Advance rom hacking. IDA Pro for ARM w/ a decompiler is the cost of a used car.

It's roughly the cost of a very good Macbook, right? Many companies that employ the kinds of people who spend their days in IDA don't bat an eye at the cost of the laptops.

Around $3k for a one year floating license, then $4k per architecture, at least according to this price list: https://www.componentsource.com/product/ida-pro-hex-rays-dec...
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