Software Watermarking: Models and Dynamic Embeddings

Watermarking embeds a secret message into a cover message. In media watermarking the secret is usually a copyright notice and the cover a digital image. Watermarking an object discourages intellectual property theft, or when such theft has occurred, allows us to prove ownership. The Software Watermarking problem can be described as follows. Embed a structure W into a program P such that: W can be reliably located and extracted from P even after P has been subjected to code transformations such as translation, optimization and obfuscation; W is stealthy; W has a high data rate; embedding W into P does not adversely a ect the performance of P; and W has a mathematical property that allows us to argue that its presence in P is the result of deliberate actions. In the rst part of the paper we construct an informal taxonomy of software watermarking techniques. In the second part we formalize these results. Finally, we propose a new software watermarking technique in which a dynamic graphic...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: POPL
• Authors: Christian S. Collberg, Clark D. Thomborson
• Keywords: Intellectual Property Theft, POPL 1999, Programming Languages, Software Watermarking Problem, Software Watermarking Technique