Method for protecting software programs

1. A method of protecting a software program for execution on hardware, wherein the software program is intended for use on hardware having a known number of available instruction breakpoints, the method comprising:

including in the program at least one corruption function having a starting location;

including in the program at least one instruction that upon execution on hardware, causes the program to be directed to the corruption function;

including in the program additional code that, upon execution on hardware, causes the program to set an available hardware breakpoint such that, when the program has been directed to the corruption function and the starting location is reached during execution on hardware, an exception is generated and the handling of the exception generates a return instruction so that the normal running of the program is resumed, causing the corruption function not to run;

wherein:

the at least one corruption function comprises a plurality of corruption functions, each having a respective starting location, one corruption function being included for each of said available instruction breakpoints, each of the corruption functions comprising blocks of code which, if executed, adversely affect execution of the program;

the at least one instruction that causes the program to be directed to the corruption function comprises a plurality of instructions, with for each of the corruption functions there being at least one instruction that causes the program to be directed to that corruption function; and

wherein the additional code that causes the program to set the available hardware breakpoint includes code to set each available instruction breakpoint such that, when the program has been directed to one of the corruption functions and the respective one of said starting locations is reached, a respective exception is generated, and the handling of each exception generates a return instruction so that the normal running of the program is resumed, so that the respective corruption function does not run.

2. A method as claimed in either of claims 1 , wherein the corruption function causes

random data to be written to a processor stack.

3. A method as claimed in either of claims 1 , wherein the corruption function causes data to be written to random locations in a processor stack.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one instruction causes the program to be directed to the corruption function only when a non-deterministic condition is met.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the non-deterministic condition relates to lower bits of a timestamp counter value.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the starting instructions of the corruption

functions are placed so that they cannot be encompassed by a single breakpoint.

7. A computer program product including program code stored in a non-transitory computer readable memory and executable on hardware,

comprising:

at least one corruption function having a starting location in computer memory;

at least one instruction that causes the program to be directed to the corruption function; and

code for setting an available hardware breakpoint such that, when the program has been directed to the corruption function and the starting location in computer memory is reached, an exception is generated and the handling of the exception generates a return instruction so that the normal running of the program is resumed, causing the corruption function not to run;

wherein the computer program product is configured for use on hardware having a known number of available instruction breakpoints, and wherein,

the at least one corruption function comprises a plurality of corruption functions, each having a respective starting instruction, one corruption function being included for each of said available instruction breakpoints, each of the corruption functions comprising blocks of code which, if executed, adversely affect execution of the program;

the at least one instruction comprises a plurality of instructions, with, for each corruption function, at least one instruction that causes the program to be directed to that corruption function; and

the code for setting each available instruction breakpoint sets each available instruction breakpoint such that, when the program has been directed to one of the corruption functions and the respective one of said starting instructions is reached, a respective exception is generated, and the handling of each exception generates a return instruction so that normal running of the program is resumed, so that the respective corruption function does not run.

8. A computer program product as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the corruption function causes random data to be written to a processor stack.

9. A computer program product as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the corruption function causes data to be written to random locations in a processor stack.

10. A computer program product as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the at least one instruction causes the program to be directed to the corruption function only when a non-deterministic condition is met.

11. A computer program product as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the non-deterministic condition relates to lower bits of a timestamp counter value.

12. A computer program product as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the starting instructions of the corruption functions are placed so that they cannot be encompassed by a single breakpoint.