A Goal-Oriented Approach to Software Obfuscation

Various software obfuscation techniques have been proposed. However, there are few discussions on proper use of these obfuscations against imaginable threats. An ad-hoc use of obfuscations cannot guarantee that a program is sufficiently protected. For a systematic use of obfuscations and the verification of the result, this paper proposes a goal oriented approach to obfuscation. Specifically, the authors define the capability of an imaginary cracker, identify the cracker's goal, conduct a goal-oriented analysis, select obfuscations to disrupt all sub-goals, and apply selected obfuscations to the program.