"Four Years Later: The Impacts of Ghidra's Public Release"

The National Security Agency (NSA) released Ghidra at the 2019 RSA Conference four years ago. Ghidra is a framework for software reverse engineering developed by Computer and Analytic Sciences Research. With hundreds of thousands of downloads and millions of website views in the days after the release, the public response was significant. GEN Paul M. Nakasone, Commander, USCYBERCOM, Director, NSA/Chief, CSS, recently met with the Ghidra team to congratulate them and learn about the impact of their Open-Source Software (OSS) release. Ghidra has become an integral part of college curriculums and the topic of many instructional books and videos. In 2020, Java Magazine ranked it among the best 25 Java programs ever developed. Many examples of major technology and cybersecurity companies integrating Ghidra into their operations have been observed by the Ghidra team. Using the Ghidra framework, others have developed and enhanced cybersecurity training. In addition, consumer devices such as Wi-Fi routers, car electronics, and voting machines have been analyzed using Ghidra. Since its start, Ghidra has been updated and improved with 26 additional releases. This article continues to discuss the impacts of Ghidra four years after its public release. 

NSA reports "Four Years Later: The Impacts of Ghidra's Public Release"