Code Obfuscation. Where is it Heading?

Abstract

Reverse Engineering is the process of revealing hidden code from class file. It converts garbage to readable English text. The main purpose of Reverse Engineering is to uncover the hidden code when the documentation is poor, missing source file, and developer is no longer available to provide the original code source file. Hacker uses Reverse Engineering to attack the class file to uncover the code. Then, the code can be reused for other purposes without taking any permission from the original author. The class file contains all the information and business rules that will be revealed once Reverse Engineering process attacks. Anti-Reverse Engineering techniques are developed to stop, delay, and prevent Reverse Engineering; one of the most common techniques is Obfuscation. It has many forms of protection such as, changing the names of classes and variables names, hide classes, and change form of code. In this paper, an appraisal will be conducted to study the current Obfuscation techniques. This research proposes a new hybrid technique that is based on obfuscation; the technique will be using mathematics, Unicode, and unknown language to convert the source file to a garbage running file that does same task which normal source file does for java applications.