A Code Obfuscation Framework for Software and Intellectual Property Protection

Abstract

Software piracy is a major problem faced in the software industry. Despite the several techniques proposed in previous studies, software piracy and intellectual property theft have continued to pose a threat in the software industry. The objective of this study is to design a code obfuscation framework for software and intellectual property protection. The methodology employed includes use of JavaScript and algorithms that described the key processes of the framework. The obfuscation framework presented in this study consists of five distinct transformation techniques belonging to the control-flow class of obfuscation classifications. A prototype application that executes the transformation techniques to produce obfuscated code based on specified techniques was provided. Results obtained from the evaluations shows that some transformation techniques are more effective than others in obscuring codes and that the proposed framework increases the computing overhead of the resultant obfuscated code by a relatively small margin. Results indicate that majority (76.2%) of the respondents believe that the developed obfuscator is inexpensive and that it does not adversely affect memory and execution time. The developed framework and prototype implementation would provide software vendors and developers the tool to obscure their intellectual property against attack and theft by making reverse engineering difficult and unattractive.