Protection Options

ByteHide Shield offers a comprehensive set of code protection techniques to secure your JavaScript applications. This guide provides an overview of all available protection options.

Core Protections

Control Flow Flattening

Transforms the program flow to make it harder to follow and understand, while preserving functionality.

Dead Code Injection

Adds random blocks of non-functional code to increase complexity and obfuscate real functionality.

String Array

Moves string literals into a separate array and replaces them with array references, with optional encoding.

Self Defending

Makes code resilient against modifications and beautification attempts, causing it to break if tampered with.

Identifier Protections

Name Protection

Transforms identifier names (variables, functions, parameters) and property names into meaningless substitutes.

Object Keys Transform

Obfuscates property names in JavaScript objects, hiding their structure and purpose.

String Protections

Split Strings

Breaks string literals into smaller chunks that are concatenated at runtime.

Unicode Escape Sequence

Converts characters in strings to their Unicode escape sequence equivalents.

Browser Protections

Debug Protection

Makes debugging extremely difficult by implementing countermeasures against browser developer tools.

Console Output Disabling

Disables browser console functions to prevent code inspection and analysis.

Devtools Blocking

Detects when browser developer tools are opened and terminates execution or redirects the page to prevent code inspection.

Domain Lock

Restricts your JavaScript code to run only on specific domains or subdomains.

Data Protections

Numbers to Expressions

Converts numeric literals into complex mathematical expressions that evaluate to the same value.

Configuring Protections

You can configure Shield protections in several ways:

Configuration File

Create a shield.config.json file with your desired options:

{
  "controlFlowFlattening": true,
  "controlFlowFlatteningThreshold": 0.75,
  "stringArray": true,
  "stringArrayEncoding": ["base64"],
  "selfDefending": true
}

{
  "controlFlowFlattening": true,
  "controlFlowFlatteningThreshold": 0.75,
  "stringArray": true,
  "stringArrayEncoding": ["base64"],
  "selfDefending": true
}

Tool-Specific Configuration

For build tools like Webpack, you can configure the protections directly:

// webpack.config.js
const ByteHideShieldPlugin = require('@bytehide/webpack-shield');

module.exports = {
  // ... other webpack config
  plugins: [
    new ByteHideShieldPlugin({
      projectToken: 'your-project-token',
      config: {
        controlFlowFlattening: true,
        deadCodeInjection: true,
        stringArray: true,
        selfDefending: true
      }
    })
  ]
}

// webpack.config.js
const ByteHideShieldPlugin = require('@bytehide/webpack-shield');

module.exports = {
  // ... other webpack config
  plugins: [
    new ByteHideShieldPlugin({
      projectToken: 'your-project-token',
      config: {
        controlFlowFlattening: true,
        deadCodeInjection: true,
        stringArray: true,
        selfDefending: true
      }
    })
  ]
}

Presets

Shield includes several protection presets for common security needs:

• Optimized: Minimal protections with high performance
• Balance: Balanced approach between security and performance
• Maximum: Maximum security with more impact on performance

{
  "optionsPreset": "balance",
  // Additional options to override preset values
  "debugProtection": true
}

{
  "optionsPreset": "balance",
  // Additional options to override preset values
  "debugProtection": true
}

See the integration guides for more details on configuring Shield with various build tools.