OBFUSCATION

Obfuscation is a technique used to intentionally make code, data, or communication difficult to understand while preserving its original functionality. Threat actors commonly use obfuscation to hide malicious intent, evade signature-based detection, and slow reverse-engineering efforts through techniques such as string encoding, control-flow manipulation, packing, or encryption. These methods allow malware to blend in with legitimate software and avoid analysis by security tools. Defenders also use obfuscation for protective purposes, including safeguarding proprietary code, protecting intellectual property, and reducing the risk of exploitation by increasing the difficulty of reverse engineering. In defensive security, obfuscation may also be applied to detection logic or sensitive configurations to limit exposure if systems are compromised. More broadly, obfuscation is used to evade detection and filtering at earlier stages of execution; as input passes through interpreters such as application logic, language runtimes, and shell parsers, it is decoded, expanded, or otherwise transformed into valid commands that are ultimately executed by the shell or operating system.

LAYERED OBFUSCATION

This is a technique in which threat actors combine multiple obfuscation methods to increase the difficulty of analysis and detection. Instead of relying on a single technique, attackers may stack encodings and transformations such as Base64 encoding followed by XOR obfuscation and string splitting so that each layer must be identified and reversed in the correct order. This approach complicates both manual analysis and automated detection by forcing defenders to repeatedly decode, normalize, and reconstruct data before the true intent becomes visible. Layered obfuscation also increases the chance that security tools will fail if they only account for one transformation stage, making it an effective method for delaying reverse engineering and evading signature-based defenses.

COMMON OBFUSCATION DETECTION TECHNIQUES