So, how do threat actors circumvent such protection? This is known as obfuscation. The goal of obfuscation is to anonymize cyberattackers, reduce the risk of exposure, and hide malware by changing the overall signature and fingerprint of malicious code -- despite the payload being a known threat.

Obfuscation of computer code uses complex language and redundant logic to make the code difficult to understand. The goal is to fool both human readers and programs such as decompilers. This is done by encrypting parts of the code, removing metadata, or replacing meaningful names with meaningless ones.

It involves using indirect jumps, branch functions, and reordering of code blocks (without interfering with functionality) to confuse attackers trying to understand the code flow.

Obfuscates by adding conditional branches that always evaluate to known results—results that cannot easily be determined via static analysis. This is a way of introducing potentially incorrect code that will never actually be executed, but is confusing to attackers trying to understand decompiled output.

The obfuscation might be either unintentional or intentional (although intent usually is connoted), and is accomplished with circumlocution (talking around the subject), the use of jargon (technical language of a profession), and the use of an argot (ingroup language) of limited communicative value to outsiders.