Re: Securing the deployment folders or at least the EOModel

A somewhat related point: many java vendors use obsfucators that turn 
method names into things like a(), a1(), a2(), a452() etc to make 
decompiled code much harder to understand.  These can't be used with WO 
as KVC relies on the bindings stored as strings matching the original 
method name.


Chuck


On Dec 8, 2004, at 7:04 PM, Ashley Aitken wrote:

>
> I'm also concerned about this issue (protecting the IP of WO app 
> installed on a client machine).  I agree with others that there 
> probably isn't a way of doing this, the only solution is to make 
> things difficult and time consuming (and/or to include "traceable" 
> markers within the design/code  for later ;-).
>
> My question, somewhat off-topic, is:  do people know what other 
> enterprise solutions (like ERP systems) do with regards to protecting 
> their IP?  Of course, firstly they may not use Java, but it is still 
> possible to reverse engineer any code (be it machine code or 
> bytecode).
>
> With regards to Mark's suggestion, unless you could hide the location 
> of the unencrypted model or "decrypt into memory" someway, there is 
> always the chance that the client will find the unencrypted model and 
> make a copy during the (possibly brief) time it is unencrypted.
>
> I guess what we need is an API or change to Apple's framework code 
> that would enable the frameworks to access a key (possibly stored 
> remotely) and read an encrypted EOModel directly.  Of course, if the 
> key is stored locally then the client could write a simple app to read 
> the model and write it out.
>
> It seems to me with these type of problems there is (as others have 
> said) no solution that can't be worked around - short of not giving 
> the client the app or securing the app on a machine that no-one else 
> has access to (with a locked cabinet etc.)
>
> So again, does anyone know what other Enterprise apps, like ERP 
> systems do?
>
> Cheers,
> Ashley.
>
> --
> Ashley Aitken
> Perth, Western Australia
> mrhatken at mac dot com
>
>
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