Thread: .NET Anti Piracy Code?

I am thinking of releasing a couple of my tools to a few people and I want something to stop them being passed about.

Rather than try and re-invent the wheel, is there something free that I can bolt onto a .net app to achieve this?

It doesn't have to be the most air tight system in the world, just enough to make things difficult.

Maybe make it only able to run off certain computer names. Or put a serial key generated off of hardware IDs.

If computername = "computer" then
blah
end

One more thing.. obfuscate your code. .net applications can be decompiled easily.

The only way to guarantee your tools from being cracked and distributed is to either not give them to anyone at all, or to only share them with people you actually trust. No anti-piracy code can be anywhere near unbreakable. And, I have to say, the general embrace that the black hat community has of "cracked" software is what keeps programmers, especially highly skilled ones, from releasing software. It's really a shame. Because what are publicly available as far as tools are generally laughable things using web browser controls and such shenanigans.

Though, like error pointed out, obfuscate! That's, at least, your first line of defense. You don't want people just busting out a reflection tool and reading all of your source line for line Or reflecting into you exe from their own program, etc.

I think it is better to look at piracy the same way as hacking protection. If you make it expensive/time consuming to get the same quality software as buying it, people will just end up buying it. If it is very quick for me to crack then I might look at it, but if there is going to much time involved with not much guarantee that I will end up with stable software - I will buy it.

What software do people buy rather than crack? Apps like SENuke - as it needs to be updated all the time as web 2.0 properties keep being added. Market Samurai - as they keep adding new shit that I don't want to miss out on. Look at other apps and see why black hatters buy instead of crack.

You could have the app call home on load, using a changing algo to defeat localhost cracks, etc...

You also need to ask yourself what market you are aiming the app at and whether they know what a crack actually is. Might be such a small percentage, no need to even bother with securing it .

Obfuscating it is quick and easy so you might as well do this as part of any release.

The best way to prevent your software from being cracked is not to give them out at all. Look at how the top softwares from Microsoft, Adobe, etc get cracked quickly all the time, so something free definitely will not stop crackers.

If the goal is creating a business of marketing a specific software bundle, suite or tool set that may apply. But in my anti-cracking remarks I was mostly focusing on more custom, one-off software. It seemed that was more the nature of the original question; that he had already developed some tools and wanted to do a limited release. Though I could easily be wrong. It's just that as good as programs like senuke and clad and all of those things seem, there are much better custom solutions out there. I think, well know, really, as a developer, a lot of people that develop really high level custom software would be more apt to offer more access to said software if it weren't for the intense level of cracking that goes on in the bh community. I'm not passing judgment. I understand the desire to get something for free rather than have to pay for it or code it yourself. I think a lot of people get their start that way. I did all those years ago. I'm just pointing out an observation.

/thread jack

There are a lot of pretty simple batch files that can change most of those values, especially HDD ID.

As someone that's used mline's software for the better part of a decade now, I can vouch that the difference between what's available to the public and what's available in private is night and day. Any developer worth his salt would be insane to code and release/sell software that turns a hefty profit to the general public because 9 times out of 10, it'd be cracked within a week, handed out to all sorts of idiots, and the method ruined for everyone.

The return on investment just isnt there when it comes to selling GOOD software. Keep in mind that nothing I've ever come across in the general realm would be considered GOOD software versus the custom solutions I've been using for most of my career.

It's kinda sad, really. If people weren't so quick to steal from the hardworking developers that put insane amounts of time and work into their software, the quality developers might be more apt to release their tools.

@mline
But I don't believe they would know that the key is generated based on that ID. Also it was just an example of what he can generate the serial from.