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Main Author: De Sutter, Bjorn
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.14093
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author De Sutter, Bjorn
author_facet De Sutter, Bjorn
contents In the domain of practical software protection against man-at-the-end attacks such as software reverse engineering and tampering, much of the scientific literature is plagued by the use of subpar methods to evaluate the protections' strength and even by the absence of such evaluations. Several criteria have been proposed in the past to assess the strength of protections, such as potency, resilience, stealth, and cost. We analyze their evolving definitions and uses. We formulate a number of critiques, from which we conclude that the existing definitions are unsatisfactory and need to be revised. We present a new framework of software protection evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness (or efficacy), robustness, concealment, stubbornness, sensitivity, predictability, and cost.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_14093
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A New Framework of Software Obfuscation Evaluation Criteria
De Sutter, Bjorn
Software Engineering
Cryptography and Security
In the domain of practical software protection against man-at-the-end attacks such as software reverse engineering and tampering, much of the scientific literature is plagued by the use of subpar methods to evaluate the protections' strength and even by the absence of such evaluations. Several criteria have been proposed in the past to assess the strength of protections, such as potency, resilience, stealth, and cost. We analyze their evolving definitions and uses. We formulate a number of critiques, from which we conclude that the existing definitions are unsatisfactory and need to be revised. We present a new framework of software protection evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness (or efficacy), robustness, concealment, stubbornness, sensitivity, predictability, and cost.
title A New Framework of Software Obfuscation Evaluation Criteria
topic Software Engineering
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.14093