Thread: Anti Piracy approaches to apps?

  1. 03-03-2008 #1
    John_L
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    Anti Piracy approaches to apps?

    I am developing an application to serve as a "workhorse" and help me eliminate some of the work I have to do. I will be sharing it among colleagues buuut who can trust anybody now a days right? I want to share the program with them, but not allow them to distribute it to their friends and make copies, and maybe run for a specific amount of time before disabling etc...I know there are a lot of licensing programs I can buy, but i'm interested in writing in security code, or using .NET features that support this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
  2. 03-03-2008 #2
    matsp
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    The approach would depend on several things:
    - The value of the application.
    - The need to protect yourself against "professional" attacks.

    The common ways are:
    1. License key stored in registry.
    2. License key generated based on customer system data and verified against file/registry.
    3. Active license server (each time the app is started, it checks for valid license with a server somewhere).
    4. Time-based limit - e.g. app stops working after 15-Mar-2008.

    ALL means of license checking can be overcome, but the amount of effort depends on the complexity of the implementation [e.g. if you combine the hard-disk ID with the MAC-address and generate a hash from that, it would requires that the potential distributor understands how to generate another hash like it from his friends HD-id and MAC-address].

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    Mats
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  3. 03-03-2008 #3
    brewbuck
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    Quote Originally Posted by John_L View Post
    I am developing an application to serve as a "workhorse" and help me eliminate some of the work I have to do. I will be sharing it among colleagues buuut who can trust anybody now a days right? I want to share the program with them, but not allow them to distribute it to their friends and make copies, and maybe run for a specific amount of time before disabling etc...I know there are a lot of licensing programs I can buy, but i'm interested in writing in security code, or using .NET features that support this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
    Why not just sign license contracts with these people to put some fear into them? When you sign on the line saying "John_L can sue my ass if I distribute this," things start feeling a lot more serious. If they are honest people and really want your software, I don't think they'd have a problem signing an agreement.
  4. 03-03-2008 #4
    CornedBee
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    Then you can do one more thing: give each of the users an individually signed version. If the program leaks, you'll know who did it.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law
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