// Comparison

Les virus informatiques vs Practical Reverse Engineering: Which Should You Read?

Two cybersecurity books on Malware, compared honestly: who each is for, what each does best, and which to read first.

Advanced

4/52009

Théorie, pratique et applications

Éric Filiol

The reference French academic treatment of computer virology — the theory, algorithms and practice of viruses and malicious code — by Éric Filiol, a former military cryptanalyst and one of France's leading virologists.

Advanced

4/52014

Practical Reverse Engineering

x86, x64, ARM, Windows Kernel, Reversing Tools, and Obfuscation

Bruce Dang, Alexandre Gazet, Elias Bachaalany

A working reverser's textbook from three Microsoft / Quarkslab veterans, covering the architectures and toolchain you'll actually meet on real targets, including the Windows kernel and modern obfuscation patterns.

Read this if

Students, researchers and serious malware analysts who want the formal, algorithmic foundations of viral code, not just tool tutorials. Filiol writes from deep cryptanalysis and military research experience.

Reverse engineers transitioning from "I can read disassembly" to "I can audit a Windows kernel driver." The architecture-first companion to Practical Malware Analysis.

Skip this if

Beginners or readers wanting a practical malware-analysis walkthrough; it's rigorous, theory-first and mathematical, closer to a graduate text than a lab guide.

Beginners with no assembly background, or readers focused exclusively on Linux/userland. The book is heavy on Windows internals and assumes you'll do the exercises in WinDbg.

Key takeaways

The canonical French-language text on the theory of computer viruses, by a recognised authority.
Theory- and algorithm-first: formal models of self-reproduction, detection complexity, and viral techniques.
Best read after a practical malware book — it explains why the techniques work, not how to click through a sandbox.

x86, x64, ARM, kernel-mode debugging, and anti-RE techniques in a single coherent volume; nothing else competes for breadth.
The kernel debugging chapters are the practical introduction the official Windows Internals book never quite delivers for security audiences.
Anti-RE coverage (obfuscation, packing, anti-debug, virtualization-based protection) is the bridge to modern malware analysis that PMA consciously skips.

How they compare

Les virus informatiques and Practical Reverse Engineering are both rated 4/5 in our catalog. Pick by topic preference and reading style rather than by rating.

Both books target advanced-level readers, so the choice is about topic, not difficulty.

Les virus informatiques and Practical Reverse Engineering both cover Malware, Reverse Engineering, so reading them in sequence reinforces the same material from different angles.

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Les virus informatiques

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