From Obfuscation to Comprehension

Eran Avidan; Dror G. Feitelson

doi:10.1109/ICPC.2015.27

From Obfuscation to Comprehension

Eran Avidan, Dror G. Feitelson

The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science

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

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Code obfuscation techniques are widely used in industry to increase protection of source code and intellectual property. The idea is that even if attackers gain hold of source code, it will be hard for them to understand what it does and how. Thus obfuscation techniques are specifically targeted at human comprehension of code. We suggest that the ideas and experience embedded in obfuscations can be used to learn about comprehension. In particular, we survey known obfuscation techniques and use them in an attempt to derive metrics for code (in) comprehensibility. This leads to emphasis on issues such as identifier naming, which are typically left on the sidelines in discussions of code comprehension, and motivates increased efforts to measure their effect.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2015 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	178-181
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Electronic)	9781467381598
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICPC.2015.27
State	Published - 5 Aug 2015
Event	23rd IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015 - Florence, Italy Duration: 18 May 2015 → 19 May 2015

Publication series

Name	IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension
Volume	2015-August

Conference

Conference	23rd IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Florence
Period	18/05/15 → 19/05/15

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 IEEE.

Keywords

Code complexity metrics
Code obfuscation
Program comprehension

Access to Document

10.1109/ICPC.2015.27

Cite this

@inproceedings{f4f36d4f50874c13b54f1476efae7774,

title = "From Obfuscation to Comprehension",

abstract = "Code obfuscation techniques are widely used in industry to increase protection of source code and intellectual property. The idea is that even if attackers gain hold of source code, it will be hard for them to understand what it does and how. Thus obfuscation techniques are specifically targeted at human comprehension of code. We suggest that the ideas and experience embedded in obfuscations can be used to learn about comprehension. In particular, we survey known obfuscation techniques and use them in an attempt to derive metrics for code (in) comprehensibility. This leads to emphasis on issues such as identifier naming, which are typically left on the sidelines in discussions of code comprehension, and motivates increased efforts to measure their effect.",

keywords = "Code complexity metrics, Code obfuscation, Program comprehension",

author = "Eran Avidan and Feitelson, {Dror G.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 IEEE.; 23rd IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015 ; Conference date: 18-05-2015 Through 19-05-2015",

year = "2015",

month = aug,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1109/ICPC.2015.27",

language = "אנגלית",

series = "IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "178--181",

booktitle = "Proceedings - 2015 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015",

address = "ארצות הברית",

}

Avidan, E & Feitelson, DG 2015, From Obfuscation to Comprehension. in Proceedings - 2015 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015., 7181445, IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, vol. 2015-August, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 178-181, 23rd IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015, Florence, Italy, 18/05/15. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICPC.2015.27

From Obfuscation to Comprehension. / Avidan, Eran; Feitelson, Dror G.
Proceedings - 2015 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015. IEEE Computer Society, 2015. p. 178-181 7181445 (IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension; Vol. 2015-August).

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

TY - GEN

T1 - From Obfuscation to Comprehension

AU - Avidan, Eran

AU - Feitelson, Dror G.

PY - 2015/8/5

Y1 - 2015/8/5

N2 - Code obfuscation techniques are widely used in industry to increase protection of source code and intellectual property. The idea is that even if attackers gain hold of source code, it will be hard for them to understand what it does and how. Thus obfuscation techniques are specifically targeted at human comprehension of code. We suggest that the ideas and experience embedded in obfuscations can be used to learn about comprehension. In particular, we survey known obfuscation techniques and use them in an attempt to derive metrics for code (in) comprehensibility. This leads to emphasis on issues such as identifier naming, which are typically left on the sidelines in discussions of code comprehension, and motivates increased efforts to measure their effect.

AB - Code obfuscation techniques are widely used in industry to increase protection of source code and intellectual property. The idea is that even if attackers gain hold of source code, it will be hard for them to understand what it does and how. Thus obfuscation techniques are specifically targeted at human comprehension of code. We suggest that the ideas and experience embedded in obfuscations can be used to learn about comprehension. In particular, we survey known obfuscation techniques and use them in an attempt to derive metrics for code (in) comprehensibility. This leads to emphasis on issues such as identifier naming, which are typically left on the sidelines in discussions of code comprehension, and motivates increased efforts to measure their effect.

KW - Code complexity metrics

KW - Code obfuscation

KW - Program comprehension

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961294600&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/ICPC.2015.27

DO - 10.1109/ICPC.2015.27

M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontobookanthology.conference???

AN - SCOPUS:84961294600

T3 - IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension

SP - 178

EP - 181

BT - Proceedings - 2015 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015

PB - IEEE Computer Society

T2 - 23rd IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2015

Y2 - 18 May 2015 through 19 May 2015

ER -

From Obfuscation to Comprehension

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this