Overview

Solutions in this chapter:

• Blacklisting and Disguising Revisions

• Product Activation

• On-line Verification/Server Authentication

• Commercial Software Protection Systems

• Reporting Violators

• What Else Can Be Done?

Introduction

No company likes having their products stolen. Yet the reaction of some software companies makes you wonder if they care at all. Responses to piracy run the gamut from total neglect to out-and-out war. This chapter discusses the technical (non-legal) anti-piracy methods that various companies employ to fight back. Also included are some of the techniques that pirates use to circumvent a software company s countermeasures. As mentioned earlier, it s a continual cat and mouse game.

Some company security methods are rudimentary, some are overly complex, and some are just plain sneaky. Included in this chapter are some things that can be done to quickly improve the situation. However, as discussed in the following sections, such solutions entail far more than a strictly technical approach.

Blacklisting and Disguising Revisions

For programs that only require a username and password or serial number, it doesn t take long for the working registration code to be widely circulated. It also doesn t take long for the manufacturer to realize it. As a countermeasure, they sometimes blacklist a particular registration code(s) or change their password encryption scheme altogether. When that happens, the old crack no longer works with the new program.

If a program s code is modified in any way it should have a new version number to distinguish it from previous versions. Sometimes revisions drastically alter a program s appearance and...