Digital Forensic Certification Practice Exam

Which program uses various techniques to conceal malicious code from detection?

1. Obfuscator

2. Debugger

3. Sandbox

4. Trojan

The correct answer is: Obfuscator

The correct answer is obfuscator because an obfuscator is specifically designed to modify code in such a way that it becomes difficult to read and understand, which can effectively conceal malicious code from detection mechanisms. This program uses various techniques, such as renaming variables and functions to meaningless labels, altering control flow, and adding extraneous code, all aimed at making the code less recognizable and harder to analyze. In contrast, other options serve different purposes in software development and security. A debugger is a tool used for testing and debugging applications by allowing developers to inspect and modify the execution of a program. While it can reveal malicious code during the analysis phase, it does not conceal it. A sandbox is an isolated environment set up to run programs securely without affecting the rest of the system; while it can help analyze potentially harmful code, it is not a technique for concealing the code itself. Lastly, a Trojan refers to a type of malware that tricks users into executing it but does not inherently involve techniques for code concealment; instead, it often disguises itself as legitimate software to gain access to a system.