Editing Binary File with Hex Editor

Question

If I edit out and replace four bytes of a binary file with 00 00 00 00 and the binary crashes when it runs does it mean that there is some sort of security protection? How likely is it that the crash isn't related to some security protection?

Answer 1

I would say it is unlikely to be security protection... most likely you broke the binary when you edited it. Try running it under a debugger to see where/how it dies.