Encoding technique for software and hardware

A process of encoding an executable program design for tamper protection and concealment of information contained therein such that the encoded program design remains executable comprising steps of: a) generating one or more checking cascades for each of one or more basic blocks of the executable program design, each checking cascade having at least as many operations as said each respective basic block and having a length and width for a preset security level; b) inserting periodic checking codes distributed over said checking cascades, said checking codes for monitoring expected output of said checking cascades at predetermined points in said executable program design; and c) intertwining said executable program design and said checking cascades so that outputs of said encoded executable program design depend upon all inputs of said executable program design and checking cascades.

The process of encoding an executable program design according to claim comprising a further step of: controlling the width and multiplicity of any of said checking and clocking cascades to vary the security and performance of said encoded program design.

An encoded executable program design stored in a machine readable medium, the program design being tamper protected and concealing information contained therein, comprising: one or more checking cascades intertwined with the program design, said one or more checking cascades having a length and width for a preset security level, and periodic checking codes distributed over said one or more checking cascades for monitoring expected outputs of said checking cascades at predetermined points in said program design.