Editing Software cracking (section)

==+HCU==
The ''High Cracking University'' (+HCU) was founded by [[Old Red Cracker]] (+ORC), considered a genius of reverse engineering and a legendary figure in [[Reverse Engineering|Reverse Code Engineering]] (RCE), to advance research into RCE. He had also taught and authored many papers on the subject, and his texts are considered classics in the field and are mandatory reading for students of RCE.<ref name="PeikariChuvakin2004"/>

The addition of the "+" sign in front of the nickname of a reverser signified membership in the +HCU. Amongst the students of +HCU were the top of the elite Windows reversers worldwide.<ref name="PeikariChuvakin2004">{{cite book|author1=Cyrus Peikari|author2=Anton Chuvakin|author2-link=Anton Chuvakin|title=Security Warrior|url=https://archive.org/details/securitywarrior0000peik|url-access=registration|date=12 January 2004|publisher="O'Reilly Media, Inc."|isbn=978-0-596-55239-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/securitywarrior0000peik/page/31 31]}}</ref> +HCU published a new reverse engineering problem annually and a small number of respondents with the best replies qualified for an undergraduate position at the university.<ref name="PeikariChuvakin2004"/>

+Fravia was a professor at +HCU. Fravia's website was known as "+Fravia's Pages of Reverse Engineering" and he used it to challenge programmers as well as the wider society to "reverse engineer" the "brainwashing of a corrupt and rampant materialism". In its heyday, his website received millions of visitors per year and its influence was "widespread".<ref name="PeikariChuvakin2004"/>  On his site, +Fravia also maintained a database of the tutorials generated by +HCU students for posterity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vianello |first1=Francesco |title=Academy Home Page |url=https://rdk.deadbsd.org/fravia/71.6.196.237/fravia/academy.htm |website=Fravia's archive pages of reverse engineering |access-date=17 May 2022 |archive-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926225534/https://rdk.deadbsd.org/fravia/71.6.196.237/fravia/academy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nowadays most of the graduates of +HCU have migrated to Linux and few have remained as Windows reversers. The information at the university has been rediscovered by a new generation of researchers and practitioners of RCE who have started new research projects in the field.<ref name="PeikariChuvakin2004"/>