A Buffer Overflow Based Algorithm to Conceal Software Watermarking Trigger Behavior

Abstract

Software watermarking is a digital technique used to protect software by embedding some secret information as identification in order to discourage software piracy and unauthorized modification. Watermarking is still a relatively new field and has good potential in protecting software from privacy threats. However, there appears to be a security vulnerability in the watermark trigger behaviour, and has been frequently attacked. By tracing the watermark trigger behaviour, attackers can easily intrude into the software and locate and expose the watermark for modification. In order to address this problem, we propose an algorithm that obscures the watermark trigger behaviour by utilizing buffer overflow. The code of the watermark trigger behaviour is removed from the software product itself, making it more difficult for attackers to trace the software. Experiments show that the new algorithm has promising performance in terms of the imperceptibility of software watermark.