Obfuscation

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What Does Obfuscation Mean?

Obfuscation is a programming technique in which code is intentionally obscured to prevent reverse engineering and deliver unclear code to anyone other than the programmer. Obfuscation is also applied to programs to ensure intellectual property (IP) protection through reverse engineering prevention.

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Techopedia Explains Obfuscation

Common reverse engineering techniques rely on function and code clarity when copying program code. Obfuscation creates ambiguous code, which makes reverse engineering difficult.

Slicing is the most common technique used for resolving obfuscated program mysteries, where portions of code are analyzed and simplified to determine program functionality.

An obfuscator is a programming tool that is used to transform readable code into ambiguous code without affecting code functionality.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.