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Cross-entropy approaches to software forensics: Source code authorship identification

Posted on:2012-03-23Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:Mississippi State UniversityCandidate:Stinson, James ThomasFull Text:PDF
GTID:1468390011466544Subject:Computer Science
Abstract/Summary:
Identification of source code authorship can be a useful tool in the areas of security and forensic investigation by helping to create corroborating evidence that may send a suspected cyber terrorist, hacker, or malicious code writer to jail. When applied to academia, it can also prove a useful tool for professors who suspect students of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, or modification of source code related to programming assignments.This work focuses on cross-entropy approaches to source code authorship analysis in predicting the correct author of a given piece of source code. Factors that affect the accuracy of the algorithm, how programmer experience determines accuracy, and whether a cross-entropy approach performs better than some known source code authorship approaches are examined.
Keywords/Search Tags:Source code authorship, Cross-entropy, Approaches, Useful tool
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