Obfuscation

Obfuscation may refer to any of the following:

1. Obfuscation is code or instructions that are purposely complicated to help conceal what the code performs. A programmer may do this to help prevent the program from being modified, stolen, or prevent a program from reading the code and understanding its true, malicious intentions. For example, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) obfuscation is used to conceal the real address a user is directed to when clicking an e-mail or web page link. In some instances, obfuscated code is used in contests as brain teasers.

Below is an example of an obfuscated batch file that prints "GOD BLESS YOU!" from the Computer Hope forum.

@echo off
setlocal
%1 %0 :: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
set A=%5&set B=%6&set C=%8&set D=%3
for %%? in (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) do shift
set A=%C%%7%A%&set C=%D%%4%B%&set D=%7
for %%? in (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) do shift
echo %A% %C%%2%2 %8%D%%4!

The code above is difficult to understand without taking time to break it down and is more difficult than "echo GOD BLESS YOU."

2. With computer security, obfuscation may be used as a technique to trick a computer user. For example, a bad actor may obfuscate a domain name in a phishing e-mail to make it appear legitimate. For example, replacing one or more of the letter "o" in computerhope.com with zeros to make it appear to be a Computer Hope website.

IOCCC, KISS, Programming terms, Security terms, Spaghetti Code