If you are a professional reversing malware for a Fortune 500, buy IDA Pro 9.x. If you are a researcher, consultant, or CTF player, offers 95% of the utility at zero cost (learning) or legacy license cost.
: Frequent queries regarding converting hex values to 16-bit Unicode strings. ida pro 7.5
Your old IDAPython scripts from version 6.x may need porting, but the upgrade is worth it. If you are a professional reversing malware for
Released in May 2020, represented a major milestone for Hex-Rays , introducing critical workflow improvements and expanding its legendary multi-processor support. As the "de facto" standard in binary analysis, this version specifically addressed user efficiency and the rapidly evolving mobile and desktop ecosystems. Key Features in IDA Pro 7.5 Your old IDAPython scripts from version 6
| Issue | Impact | |-------|--------| | | RE on M1 Macs required Rosetta 2, causing slowdowns. | | Python 3 transition pains | IDA 7.5 supported Python 3, but many legacy scripts broke. The plugin ecosystem was chaotic for months. | | Ghidra’s collaboration features | Ghidra offered real-time co-reversing (like Google Docs). IDA 7.5 remained single-user. | | Price still high | Despite bundling the decompiler, a single license was ~$3,000+. Ghidra remained free. |
Improved handling of the MH_FILESET kernelcache format and symbolicating kernel extensions.
def entropy(data): if not data: return 0 entropy = 0 for x in range(256): p_x = float(data.count(chr(x)))/len(data) if p_x > 0: entropy += - p_x * math.log(p_x, 2) return entropy