Covert Java™: Techniques for Decompiling, Patching, and Reverse Engineering

Chapter 3. Obfuscating Classes

	“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
	--Murphy's Technology Laws

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Protecting the Ideas Behind Your Code 27

• Obfuscation As a Protection of Intellectual Property 28

• Transformations Performed by Obfuscators 29

• Knowing the Best Obfuscators 33

• Potential Problems and Common Solutions 34

• Using Zelix KlassMaster to Obfuscate a Chat Application 36

• Cracking Obfuscated Code 40

• Quick Quiz 41

• In Brief 41

Protecting the Ideas Behind Your Code

Reverse engineering and hacking have been around since the early days of software development. As a matter of fact, stealing or replicating someone else's ideas has always been the easiest way of creating competitive products. There is, of course, a ...