In general, embodiments of the present invention provide protection for
anti-malware software programs (also referred to herein as anti-malware)
that is in addition to the protection that currently exists. In
particular, instead of only protecting anti-malware programs from malware
attacks by attempting to detect the malware software programs (also
referred to herein as malware) before they can accomplish their malicious
task, embodiments of the present invention obfuscate, or hide, the
anti-malware and/or files associated with the anti-malware. Obfuscating
files makes it difficult for malware to locate the information needed to
accomplish its malware tasks. Additionally, because obfuscation makes
file location difficult, malware that attempts to overcome this
protection technique will likely include or use a detection engine.