ANTARES detector during each data-taking period.

The simulated effective area is used to evaluate the expected signal from WIMP self-annihilations. The expected background is estimated from the scrambled data in order to avoid systematic uncertainties from the simulation. The scrambling consists in a uniform randomisation of the UTC time of the events in the data-taking period. The zenith and azimuth angles of the reconstructed tracks are kept so as to preserve the angular response of the detector in the optimisation of the selection criteria. This procedure provides a means to follow a data blinding strategy while using all the relevant information on the detector performance.

The criteria to select events and to reduce the background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos, and to improve the sensitivity of ANTARES to a dark matter signal, are devised following a blind procedure on the srambled data before performing the analysis on the data.

Optimisation of the event selection criteria {#optimisation}
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The data used in this search were recorded between the $\rm 27^{th}$ of January 2007 and the $\rm 31^{st}$ of October 2012, corresponding to a total livetime of about $\rm 1321$ days. This livetime is not corrected for the visibility of the GC. 