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Implementation of an Obfuscator for Visual C++ Source Code  

Chang, Hye-Young (단국대학교 정보컴퓨터과학)
Cho, Seong-Je (단국대학교 정보컴퓨터과학부)
Publication Information
Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications / v.35, no.2, 2008 , pp. 59-69 More about this Journal
Abstract
Automatic obfuscation is known to be the most viable method for preventing reverse engineering intentional1y making code more difficult to understand for security purposes. In this paper, we study and implement an obfuscation method for protecting MS Visual C++ programs against attack on the intellectual property in software like reverse engineering attack. That is, the paper describes the implementation of a code obfuscator, a tool which converts a Visual C++ source program into an equivalent one that is much harder to understand. We have used ANTLR parser generator for handling Visual C++ sources, and implemented some obfuscating transformations such as 'Remove comments', 'Scramble identifiers', 'Split variables', 'Fold array', 'Insert class', 'Extend loop condition', 'Add redundant operands', and 'Insert dead code'. We have also evaluated the performance and effectiveness of the obfuscator in terms of potency, resilience, and cost. When the obfuscated source code has been compared with the original source code, it has enough effectiveness for software protection though it incurs some run-time overheads.
Keywords
Obfuscator; Visual C++ Source Program; Reverse Engineering Attack;
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