The present invention performs manipulations on the assembly file level. As a compiler outputs an assembly file, the assembly file may be inspected and modified before it is sent to the assembler. One or more of the following modifications may be made to the assembly file: rewrite certain symbols, scramble program symbols, reorganize declarations of global variables so that their layout and default values are known prior to linking, and identify initializer and de-initializer functions in order to make them callable through central initialization and de-initialization functions, respectively.