Prevent decompiling of the code

[Torben Laursen]

Hi

I need to be sure that my C# code is as hard as possible to decompile.

Can anyone tell what is the best tool for that job?

Also will this be a part of Visual Studio 2008?
It seems natural to me that the .net framework came with a solution so other
people could not see your source code

Torben

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

On Oct 18, 8:29 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

I need to be sure that my C# code is as hard as possible to decompile.

Do you really, really need to? I personally believe a lot of people
are somewhat paranoid on this point. That's not to say it's always an
inappropriate concern, but it often is.

See http://pobox.com/~skeet/csharp/obfuscation.html

Can anyone tell what is the best tool for that job?

Also will this be a part of Visual Studio 2008?
It seems natural to me that the .net framework came with a solution so other
people could not see your source code

Well, there is an MS solution which is very recent (and which I
haven't looked at):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Jon

[Todd Carnes]

"Torben Laursen" <do**@not.workwrote in message
news:98**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hi

I need to be sure that my C# code is as hard as possible to decompile.

Can anyone tell what is the best tool for that job?

Also will this be a part of Visual Studio 2008?
It seems natural to me that the .net framework came with a solution so
other people could not see your source code

Torben

Check out this article.

http://www.codeproject.com/showcase/9rays_protect.asp

Todd

[Torben Laursen]

Jon,

Thanks for your feed back.

Yes I need it since I write very specialised engineering code that is sold
in a few high cost licenses.
I am looking very hard at the new solution from Microsoft to handle
licenses.
Currently I use a different solution (SentinelLM) but they have raised the
price big time so I need a replacement and I allready have a MSDN.

As fra as I can see right now my best bet is the "Gold dotfuscator" solution
from preemptive.com

Torben

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <sk***@pobox.comwrote in message
news:11**********************@i38g2000prf.googlegr oups.com...

On Oct 18, 8:29 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

>I need to be sure that my C# code is as hard as possible to decompile.

Do you really, really need to? I personally believe a lot of people
are somewhat paranoid on this point. That's not to say it's always an
inappropriate concern, but it often is.

See http://pobox.com/~skeet/csharp/obfuscation.html

>Can anyone tell what is the best tool for that job?

Also will this be a part of Visual Studio 2008?
It seems natural to me that the .net framework came with a solution so
other
people could not see your source code

Well, there is an MS solution which is very recent (and which I
haven't looked at):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Jon

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

On Oct 18, 9:12 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

Thanks for your feed back.

Yes I need it since I write very specialised engineering code that is sold
in a few high cost licenses.

And is piracy a genuine issue within this engineering community? Code
that is sold for a few high cost licences typically doesn't have much
piracy because there's usually a fair amount of communication between
the vendor and the user - that makes it easy to spot pirates.

I am looking very hard at the new solution from Microsoft to handle
licenses.
Currently I use a different solution (SentinelLM) but they have raised the
price big time so I need a replacement and I allready have a MSDN.

As fra as I can see right now my best bet is the "Gold dotfuscator" solution
from preemptive.com

Fair enough. I'd still think about the costs vs actual likelihood of
revenue loss before going too far. Don't forget that the costs are
more than just the upfront cost of the obfuscation software - anything
which effectively changes how your code executes will have
implications in build, test, and support.

Jon

[Torben Laursen]

Jon,

You are 100% right, and I have been thinking about this for some time.

I have a lot of contact with my customers and they are all very big
company's so piracy is a minor problem.
However the knowhow inside the code must be protected since what I implement
is public but how to implement it is the big secret.

One thing that I am not clear on is will using ngen.exe give me some
protection against decompiling?
That would be a simple solution

Torben

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <sk***@pobox.comwrote in message
news:11**********************@e34g2000pro.googlegr oups.com...

On Oct 18, 9:12 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

>Thanks for your feed back.

Yes I need it since I write very specialised engineering code that is
sold
in a few high cost licenses.

And is piracy a genuine issue within this engineering community? Code
that is sold for a few high cost licences typically doesn't have much
piracy because there's usually a fair amount of communication between
the vendor and the user - that makes it easy to spot pirates.

>I am looking very hard at the new solution from Microsoft to handle
licenses.
Currently I use a different solution (SentinelLM) but they have raised
the
price big time so I need a replacement and I allready have a MSDN.

As fra as I can see right now my best bet is the "Gold dotfuscator"
solution
from preemptive.com

Fair enough. I'd still think about the costs vs actual likelihood of
revenue loss before going too far. Don't forget that the costs are
more than just the upfront cost of the obfuscation software - anything
which effectively changes how your code executes will have
implications in build, test, and support.

Jon

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

On Oct 18, 10:06 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

You are 100% right, and I have been thinking about this for some time.

I have a lot of contact with my customers and they are all very big
company's so piracy is a minor problem.
However the knowhow inside the code must be protected since what I implement
is public but how to implement it is the big secret.

Is it a secret there is a significant risk that anyone will steal,
however? Would it be obvious if someone *had* stolen it?

One thing that I am not clear on is will using ngen.exe give me some
protection against decompiling?

No, none at all - the metadata is still included after ngen.

Is there any possibility of running the sensitive code on a server you
own, and having the non-sensitive stuff talk to the server? That way
your secret code never gets onto a system which you can't physically
protect - it's the most secure way of protecting algorithms etc.

Jon

[verbiest]

On 18 okt, 11:06, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

Jon,

You are 100% right, and I have been thinking about this for some time.

I have a lot of contact with my customers and they are all very big
company's so piracy is a minor problem.
However the knowhow inside the code must be protected since what I implement
is public but how to implement it is the big secret.

One thing that I am not clear on is will using ngen.exe give me some
protection against decompiling?
That would be a simple solution

Torben

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <[e-mail] in messagenews:11**********************@e34g2000pro.g ooglegroups.com...

On Oct 18, 9:12 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

Thanks for your feed back.

Yes I need it since I write very specialised engineering code that is
sold
in a few high cost licenses.

And is piracy a genuine issue within this engineering community? Code
that is sold for a few high cost licences typically doesn't have much
piracy because there's usually a fair amount of communication between
the vendor and the user - that makes it easy to spot pirates.

I am looking very hard at the new solution from Microsoft to handle
licenses.
Currently I use a different solution (SentinelLM) but they have raised
the
price big time so I need a replacement and I allready have a MSDN.

As fra as I can see right now my best bet is the "Gold dotfuscator"
solution
from preemptive.com

Fair enough. I'd still think about the costs vs actual likelihood of
revenue loss before going too far. Don't forget that the costs are
more than just the upfront cost of the obfuscation software - anything
which effectively changes how your code executes will have
implications in build, test, and support.

Jon- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -

- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht weergeven -

Ngen will not help you, because the assembly containing the IL still
has to be deployed on the client's computer.

[Robbe Morris - [MVP] C#]

http://www.dotfuscator.com

Yes, you definitely should make it hard for someone
to decompile your assemblies especially in the
arena you are in. It doesn't make it 100% impossible
but does make it very difficult.

Basically, you want to look at ways to minimize the
number of candidates who can decompile your code
and make that effort expensive. In b2b environment,
this will most likely be sufficient.

The dotfuscator guys have some nice tamper
protection tools.

--
Robbe Morris [Microsoft MVP - Visual C#]
..NET PropertyGrid Control - ListBox, ComboBox, and Custom Classes
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials...d-control.aspx


"Torben Laursen" <do**@not.workwrote in message
news:FC**********************************@microsof t.com...

Jon,

You are 100% right, and I have been thinking about this for some time.

I have a lot of contact with my customers and they are all very big
company's so piracy is a minor problem.
However the knowhow inside the code must be protected since what I
implement is public but how to implement it is the big secret.

One thing that I am not clear on is will using ngen.exe give me some
protection against decompiling?
That would be a simple solution

Torben

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <sk***@pobox.comwrote in message
news:11**********************@e34g2000pro.googlegr oups.com...

>On Oct 18, 9:12 am, "Torben Laursen" <[e-mail]:

>>Thanks for your feed back.

Yes I need it since I write very specialised engineering code that is
sold
in a few high cost licenses.

And is piracy a genuine issue within this engineering community? Code
that is sold for a few high cost licences typically doesn't have much
piracy because there's usually a fair amount of communication between
the vendor and the user - that makes it easy to spot pirates.

>>I am looking very hard at the new solution from Microsoft to handle
licenses.
Currently I use a different solution (SentinelLM) but they have raised
the
price big time so I need a replacement and I allready have a MSDN.

As fra as I can see right now my best bet is the "Gold dotfuscator"
solution
from preemptive.com

Fair enough. I'd still think about the costs vs actual likelihood of
revenue loss before going too far. Don't forget that the costs are
more than just the upfront cost of the obfuscation software - anything
which effectively changes how your code executes will have
implications in build, test, and support.

Jon