Inside Secure

Iti Scotland Limited

Verimatrix, Inc.

Metaforic Limited

Neil William Stewart

Douglas McPherson Little

Graeme Kerr Harkness

Graeme Harkness

Douglas Little

In a general aspect, a computer implemented method can include identifying, in a program code stored in computer memory, a location of a dynamic repair target code section for an assignment to a program variable, a value of which is known only at runtime. The method can also include modifying the program code at the identified location of the dynamic repair target code section to assign an immediate value different from a correct runtime value to the program variable. The method can further include inserting, into the program code in the computer memory, a dynamic repair probe code section that is executed before the dynamic repair target code and, at runtime, modifies the immediate value in the code to contain the correct runtime value when an attack has not occurred.

Method of protecting computer program code

In a general aspect, a method of generating a protected implementation of an algorithm includes: expanding an original source code implementing the algorithm into a single set of real operations; combining each real operation using real data with the real data it uses, to obtain a combination represented in a way which uses an actual real data fragment in a form different from an original form; producing a set of duplicated and mutated decoy operations representing an alternative implementation of the algorithm, applied to decoy data; combining the set of decoy operations with the set of real operations including the combinations, to obtain an implementation where the decoy operations interact with the real operations and the real data processed by the real operations, such that a real data flow of in the implementation is difficult to analyze; and transforming the implementation into a resulting code that can be executed.

Method of protecting secret data when used in a cryptographic algorithm

A computer implemented anti-tamper system employing runtime profiling of software in order to decide where to inject integrity checks into the software, to enable verification of whether or not the software has been tampered with. Runtime profiling and analysis is used to record information about the application, in order to establish the locations and targets of runtime integrity checks in order to optimize protection security, while minimizing the performance penalty and the need for hand configuration.

Anti-tamper system employing automated analysis

Program code is modified to execute correctly only when code and data memory accesses/fetches are synchronised, i.e. data and code accesses/fetches are routed to identical physical addresses in computer memory. This indirectly defeats the MMU attack, in which code and data memory accesses/fetches to the same logical address are routed to different physical addresses. The program code is modified such that one or more sections of the code ('repair targets') are deliberately broken so that the program code will not execute correctly, the repair targets being replaced at run time with correct code before the repair targets are executed.

A computer-programming tool for generating an implementation of a first data structure, the first data structure representing at least a portion of a computer-programming language. The implementation includes a second data structure and implementation rules which define the syntax rules of the first data structure to be enforced in relation to nodes of the second data structure during a subsequent processing operation which utilizes the implementation in order to establish compliance with the syntax rules represented by the first data structure. Links between nodes of the first data structure are representative of paths of inheritance of substitutability but not implementation and interface between those nodes.

System representation and handling techniques

In order to protect a software program, at least one corruption function is included in the program. Also included in the program is at least one instruction that causes the program to be directed to the corruption function. An available breakpoint is then set such that, when the starting location of the corruption function is reached, an exception is generated and the handling of the exception causes the corruption function not to run. This has the effect that, if a malicious user attempts to use the available hardware breakpoint to perform unauthorized actions on the software program, the corruption function will run, and the software program will be unusable.

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Glasgow, United Kingdom

Neil William Stewart