ASP.NET 2.0 secure source code

[Haseeb Mukhtar]

Hi all, We can secure source code of business login in asp by using DLLs but how can we secure ASPX pages. I had sale a business solution to a company and they just rename the my company's name and logo and sale to other companies. any solution.

[Mike Ellison]

Do you have any kind of formal agreement with your clients? When you sell them an application, do you require them to sign a license agreement that prohibits what you're describing? The truth is there isn't much that would stop an unethical individual/business from hacking a .NET application and replacing resources (e.g. a logo image) with their own. However, if you have a signed contract with them and can prove they violated the terms of the contract, your lawyer should be able to make a case in court and recover damages.

[Guffa]

Download the deployment plugin for visual studio. Add a deployment project and use that to compile the application for deployment. In the settings you can choose to not make the site editable, which will turn all aspx files into empty placeholders and put the markup in the DLLs.

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[ednrgc]

If you didn't do what Guffa said ahead of time, you may be screwed. Being that it's an ASP.NET application, they can simply replace your logo by replacing a graphic file. They could also change the HTML in the aspx page. When a company buys an application, they usually also want rights to the source code. If that's the case, your price for source code should be a point where you are compensated enough to not care in case this happens. If it's a generic piece of software, and not a custom built application for them and they didn't agree to the source code, you can use your receipt, and go after them for copyright infringment.

[kaliem]

little relevant to the topic, I have seen people using utility which takes exe file as Input and generates its Source code as output ... now, what would you do there :-D ... Btw, I have seen it for .NET only, any info about other languages ???

[Mircea Grelus]

kaliem wrote:

now, what would you do there

Obfuscate.

regards, Mircea Many people spend their life going to sleep when they’re not sleepy and waking up while they still are.

[Guffa]

kaliem wrote:

I have seen people using utility which takes exe file as Input and generates its Source code as output

Actually, that is impossible. What you have seen is someone generating source code that will recreate the program, but the original source code can not be recreated that way. Any program can be reverse engineered like this. However, to recreate the application you have to take all the different parts of source code and try to put it together into an application igain. That takes a lot more effort and knowledge than just opening an aspx file and change some text. You can never completely protect your program from reverse engineering, but you can at least make sure that it can't be done by someone who has just learned how to use Notepad. ;)

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[kaliem]

hmm, I see, 'will seek a chance to use that utlity myself :) and then tell you ... if integrated source code couldnt be obtained directly, thats actually Good to know ...

[Haseeb Mukhtar]

Thankx all, especialy Guffa, i will go for deployment package for aspx. thanks alot. :) keep Smiling, Happy Coding.