Evaluation of Register Number Abstraction for Enhanced Instruction Register Files

Abstract

Instruction set randomization (ISR) is a cost-effective obfuscation technique that modifies or enhances the relationship between instructions and machine languages. An Instruction Register File (IRF), a list of frequently used instructions, can be used for ISR by providing the way of indirect access to them. This study examines the IRF that integrates a positional register, which was proposed as a supplementary unit of the IRF, for the sake of tamper resistance. According to our evaluation, with a new design for the contents of the positional register, the measure of tamper resistance was increased by 8.2% at a maximum, which corresponds to a 32.2% increase in the size of the IRF. The number of logic elements increased by the addition of the positional register was 3.5% of its baseline processor.