The Devil ’ s Right Hand : An Investigation on Malware - oriented

Malicious software, also known as malware, represents the profitable art of destruction, as it is able to do any kind of harm to a system in a stealthy manner as well as to hide its existence. Furthermore, its rise has prevailed and there is no end in sight. Its most valuable tool, obfuscation, is mainly responsible for this achievement. Obfuscation techniques are applied to protect assets of malware for a limited time. In this article we look at the origins of obfuscation and its significance in malware design. In addition, we also highlight why it is important to continuously investigate obfuscation techniques and why we need a means to measure their effectiveness in evading detection mechanisms.