Breaking abstractions and unstructuring data structures

Christian Collberg; Clark Thomborson; Douglas Low

doi:10.1109/ICCL.1998.674154

Breaking abstractions and unstructuring data structures

Christian Collberg, Clark Thomborson, Douglas Low

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

117 Scopus citations

Abstract

To ensure platform independence, mobile programs are distributed in forms that are isomorphic to the original source code. Such codes are easy to decompile, and hence they increase the risk of malicious reverse engineering attacks. Code obfuscation is one of several techniques which has been proposed to alleviate this situation. An obfuscator is a tool which - through the application of code transformations - converts a program into an equivalent one that is more difficult to reverse engineer. In a previous paper [5] we have described the design of a control flow obfuscator for Java. In this paper we extend the design with transformations that obfuscate data structures and abstractions. In particular, we show how to obfuscate classes, arrays, procedural abstractions and built-in data types like strings, integers, and booleans.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Languages
Publisher	IEEE Comp Soc
Pages	28-38
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Print)	0818684542
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCL.1998.674154
State	Published - 1998
Externally published	Yes
Event	Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Computer Languages - Chicago, IL, USA Duration: May 14 1998 → May 16 1998

Other

Other	Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Computer Languages
City	Chicago, IL, USA
Period	5/14/98 → 5/16/98

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software

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10.1109/ICCL.1998.674154

Cite this

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title = "Breaking abstractions and unstructuring data structures",

abstract = "To ensure platform independence, mobile programs are distributed in forms that are isomorphic to the original source code. Such codes are easy to decompile, and hence they increase the risk of malicious reverse engineering attacks. Code obfuscation is one of several techniques which has been proposed to alleviate this situation. An obfuscator is a tool which - through the application of code transformations - converts a program into an equivalent one that is more difficult to reverse engineer. In a previous paper [5] we have described the design of a control flow obfuscator for Java. In this paper we extend the design with transformations that obfuscate data structures and abstractions. In particular, we show how to obfuscate classes, arrays, procedural abstractions and built-in data types like strings, integers, and booleans.",

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doi = "10.1109/ICCL.1998.674154",

language = "English (US)",

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pages = "28--38",

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publisher = "IEEE Comp Soc",

note = "Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Computer Languages ; Conference date: 14-05-1998 Through 16-05-1998",

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T1 - Breaking abstractions and unstructuring data structures

AU - Collberg, Christian

AU - Thomborson, Clark

AU - Low, Douglas

PY - 1998

Y1 - 1998

N2 - To ensure platform independence, mobile programs are distributed in forms that are isomorphic to the original source code. Such codes are easy to decompile, and hence they increase the risk of malicious reverse engineering attacks. Code obfuscation is one of several techniques which has been proposed to alleviate this situation. An obfuscator is a tool which - through the application of code transformations - converts a program into an equivalent one that is more difficult to reverse engineer. In a previous paper [5] we have described the design of a control flow obfuscator for Java. In this paper we extend the design with transformations that obfuscate data structures and abstractions. In particular, we show how to obfuscate classes, arrays, procedural abstractions and built-in data types like strings, integers, and booleans.

AB - To ensure platform independence, mobile programs are distributed in forms that are isomorphic to the original source code. Such codes are easy to decompile, and hence they increase the risk of malicious reverse engineering attacks. Code obfuscation is one of several techniques which has been proposed to alleviate this situation. An obfuscator is a tool which - through the application of code transformations - converts a program into an equivalent one that is more difficult to reverse engineer. In a previous paper [5] we have described the design of a control flow obfuscator for Java. In this paper we extend the design with transformations that obfuscate data structures and abstractions. In particular, we show how to obfuscate classes, arrays, procedural abstractions and built-in data types like strings, integers, and booleans.

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BT - Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Languages

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T2 - Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Computer Languages

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ER -

Breaking abstractions and unstructuring data structures

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