5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising parameterizing the encrypted simulation model by passing a value for a parameter of the secure IP representation into the simulation kernel during a simulation session.
1. A method of creating a secure intellectual property (IP) representation of a circuit design for use with a software-based simulator, said method comprising: translating a hardware description language representation of the circuit design into an intermediate form specified using a general-purpose, high level programming language; obfuscating the general-purpose, high level programming language of the intermediate form using at least one obfuscation technique operable on the general-purpose high level programming language; compiling the intermediate form of the circuit design to produce encrypted object code; and linking the encrypted object code with a simulation kernel library creating the secure IP representation of the circuit design comprising an encrypted simulation model of the circuit design and a simulation kernel configured to execute the encrypted simulation model in coordination with the simulator, wherein the simulator is a hardware description language simulator.