What is meant by "software obfuscation"?

Software obfuscation refers to the practice of intentionally making code difficult to understand. This technique is primarily employed to protect against reverse engineering and tampering. By obscuring the logic and structure of the software, it becomes challenging for unauthorized users or potential attackers to analyze how the software operates, thereby providing an added layer of security.

The goal of software obfuscation is not to enhance readability or usability, which clearly distinguishes it from approaches focused on those objectives. While enhancing code readability is crucial for development and maintenance, obfuscation takes the opposite approach, making it more complex and less intuitive. Similarly, improving software usability or debugging errors in the code are different processes aimed at refining the user experience and ensuring the software operates correctly, neither of which involves deliberately complicating the code for security purposes. Thus, the essence of software obfuscation lies in its defensive strategy against threats, making option A the correct interpretation.