7. Software Tamperproofing

To tamperproof a program is to ensure that it “executes as intended,” even in the presence of an adversary who tries to disrupt, monitor, or change the execution. Note that this is different from obfuscation, where the intent is to make it difficult for the attacker to understand the program. In practice, the boundary between tamperproofing and obfuscation is a blurry one: A program that is harder to understand because it’s been obfuscated ought also be more difficult to modify! For example, an attacker who can’t find the decrypt() function in a DRM media player because it’s been thoroughly obfuscated also won’t be able to modify it or even monitor it by setting a breakpoint on it.

The dynamic obfuscation algorithms ...

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