[mdlug] Reverse-engineering data protocols

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: David McMillan

>      I'm *pretty* certain that this data isn't enciphered to prevent
> third-party access, but it's not plaintext being pushed through a
> Telnet-esque connection either.  So I'm a bit stuck.

I see two approaches, one short-term, one long-term.

 1) Short term - see if you can 'record' the data coming into Linux
(WireShark, netcat, whatever) and then 'play it back' later to the
Windows logger. This would allow you to do a bunch of tests, saving to
different files, and then 'batch log' them to Windows later for
processing.

 2) Long term - figure out the structure of the file. Is the data
basically numbers? Then do a little work, taking chunks of the file and
interpreting them as numbers. I'd guess they were either integers, or
IEEE floating-point numbers. Are you familiar with the concept of
'endianness'? You may have to take that into account. But given the
input and the plaintext file, it should be possible to figure out the
protocol.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                              (313) 227-2317

 "I say we scrap the current Social Security system and replace it with
  a system wherein you add your name to the bottom of a list, and then
   you send some money to the person at the top of the list, and then
       you... Oh, wait, that IS our current system." - Dave Barry

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