Method, system and device for protection against reverse engineering and/or tampering with programs

A device for configuring a processor circuit to enhance the protection of applications executed in an open environments against reverse engineering and tampering attacks by configuring said processor circuit to be a virtual machine emulated on another execution environment, wherein program execution is obfuscated by layering at least one virtual machine, an inextricably link application and execution environment and embedding legal information openly into at least application code, said virtual machine and application data, the device comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a bit string (B) and a program (P), the program (P) defining a series of reference machine instructions associated with the processor circuit;
• and
• a configuration processor circuit configured to:
• translate the program (P) into a series of reference machine instructions for a reference execution circuit using a computer;
• divide the bit string (B) into successive parts that will be used by the processor as respective matching instructions;
• compare the reference machine instructions with the parts of the bit string (B) at corresponding positions in the series of reference machine instructions and the bit string (B) respectively;
• determine translation data for translating the parts of the bit string into the reference machine instructions at the corresponding position based on said comparison,
• wherein said translation data is associated with said processor circuit, and configuring the processor circuit with said translation data, wherein an instruction decoder of the processor circuit is configured to:
• provide for translation of machine instructions from the bit string (B) into the reference machine instructions dependent on the translation data so that it will execute machine instructions according to said translation data.

A processor circuit configured to be a virtual machine, emulated on another execution environment, to enhance the protection of applications executed in an open environments against reverse engineering and tampering, wherein execution is obfuscated by layering at least one virtual machine, an inextricably link application and execution environment and embedding legal information openly into at least application code, said virtual machine and application data comprising:

• a program memory configured to store a bit string (B) as a source of machine instructions,
• an instruction decoder coupled to an output of the program memory, the instruction decoder configured to:
• divide the bit string (B) into successive parts that will be used by the processor circuit as respective machine instructions;
• compare the reference machine instructions with the parts of the bit string (B) at corresponding positions in the series of reference machine instructions and the bit string (B) respectively;
• determine translation data for translating the parts of the bit string into the reference machine instructions at the corresponding positions based on said comparison, wherein said translation data is associated with said processor circuit;
• and
• generate configuration data for configuring the processor circuit,
• based on said translation data, wherein an instruction decoder of the processor circuit is configured to provide for translation of machine instructions from the bit string (B) into the reference machine instructions dependent on the translation data.

A non-transitory computer program product, to enhance the protection of applications executed in an open environments against reverse engineering and tampering, comprising a plurality of instructions, stored on a tangible medium, that is not a signal or a wave, for configuring a processor to be a virtual machine, emulated on another execution environment, wherein execution is obfuscated by layering at least one virtual machine, an inextricably link application and execution environment and embedding legal information openly into at least application code, said virtual machine and application data, said non-transitory computer program product when executed by said processor will cause said processor to:

• receive a bit string (B) and a program (P), said program defining a series of reference machine instructions associated with the processor;
• and
• divide the bit string (B) into successive parts that will be used by the processor as respective machine instructions;
• compare the reference machine instructions with the parts of the bit string (B) at corresponding positions in the series of reference machine instructions and the bit string (B) respectively;
• determine translation data for translating the parts of the bit string into the reference machine instructions at the corresponding positions based on said comparison, wherein said translation data is associated with said processor;
• and
• generate configuration data for configuring the processor with said translation data, wherein an instruction decoder of the processor being configured to provide for translation of machine instructions from the bit string (B) into the reference machine instructions dependent on the translation data.