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.NET Obfuscation

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  • A Anders Molin

    Jeff Varszegi wrote: No matter what kind of genius wrote the tool, I'm a little leery of rearranging the structure of the code I already lovingly tuned for performance. I know what you mean. And an obfuscated assembly will still be possible to decompile. It will be a mess to look at, but I don't see why it should be impossible to decompile it... Jeff Varszegi wrote: ou could always use ngen.exe to generate native images and redistribute those, couldn't you? I read somewhere that it was not possible and you had to provide the assembly anyway... - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

    My Photos[^]

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    Jeff Varszegi
    wrote on last edited by
    #4

    You're right. MSDN says If Ngen.exe encounters any methods in an assembly that it cannot generate, it excludes them from the native image. When the runtime executes this assembly, it will revert to JIT compilation for the methods that were not included in the native image. Not only that, but the native image contains processor-specific machine code. Sorry for wasting your time on that one. Regards, Jeff Varszegi EEEP!  An Extensible Expression Evaluation Package

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    • A Anders Molin

      I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

      My Photos[^]

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      Marcie Jones
      wrote on last edited by
      #5

      All of my .NET code is ASP.NET, so no, I don't obfuscate it :-D Marcie CP Blog[^]

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      • A Anders Molin

        I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

        My Photos[^]

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        peterchen
        wrote on last edited by
        #6

        I am looking for Deobfuscators for OpenSource Fortran code written by "6 crazy researchers". (Thats how the CTO labeled them). Do you think a .NET obfuscator could be used here? OK silly question - but an idea: Just write the core routines in Fortran.NET we now continue with the normal program


        Flirt harder, I'm a Coder
        mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen

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        • A Anders Molin

          I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

          My Photos[^]

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          l a u r e n
          wrote on last edited by
          #7

          see this is another thing i really dont like about .NOT you have to give ur source code away practically but i guess since .NOT is basically a giant vm scripting language that isnt really surprising :suss:


          "there is no spoon"
          biz stuff   about me

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          • P peterchen

            I am looking for Deobfuscators for OpenSource Fortran code written by "6 crazy researchers". (Thats how the CTO labeled them). Do you think a .NET obfuscator could be used here? OK silly question - but an idea: Just write the core routines in Fortran.NET we now continue with the normal program


            Flirt harder, I'm a Coder
            mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen

            A Offline
            A Offline
            Anders Molin
            wrote on last edited by
            #8

            peterchen wrote: I am looking for Deobfuscators for OpenSource Fortran code written by "6 crazy researchers". LOL :laugh: - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

            My Photos[^]

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            • L l a u r e n

              see this is another thing i really dont like about .NOT you have to give ur source code away practically but i guess since .NOT is basically a giant vm scripting language that isnt really surprising :suss:


              "there is no spoon"
              biz stuff   about me

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              G Offline
              Gavin Lees
              wrote on last edited by
              #9

              l a u r e n wrote: .NOT :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

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              • A Anders Molin

                I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                My Photos[^]

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                Nemanja Trifunovic
                wrote on last edited by
                #10

                Doesn't work. I've talked about it with some Java guys and they say it is the same with Java. Whatever obfuscator you use, it will be still very easy to reverse-engineer your app. I guess this is one of the reasons why Java is used mainly for web applications.

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                • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                  Doesn't work. I've talked about it with some Java guys and they say it is the same with Java. Whatever obfuscator you use, it will be still very easy to reverse-engineer your app. I guess this is one of the reasons why Java is used mainly for web applications.

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                  Jeff Varszegi
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #11

                  It is the same in Java, but just being able to decompile something doesn't mean that you can use it. Have you ever downloaded an obfuscated Java applet and taken a look at the decompiled source? It's not worth the time to figure out what's going on; just destroying human-readable names makes the source, well, not human-readable. This won't defeat the resources of a government agency, a corporation, or even a knowledgeable motivated person. It is some measure of protection, though; no script kiddie or even intermediate-level person will be able to use the source, and nobody'll be able to use it without some effort. I think that to say Java is used mainly for web applications is sort of silly. It's not used for systems programming, but it is widely used for just about everything else. If you have a programmable cell phone, odds are you can program it easily in Java. Oh, wait-- I forgot where I am. Scratch that last statement. ;) To each his/her own. Regards, Jeff Varszegi EEEP!  An Extensible Expression Evaluation Package

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                  • L l a u r e n

                    see this is another thing i really dont like about .NOT you have to give ur source code away practically but i guess since .NOT is basically a giant vm scripting language that isnt really surprising :suss:


                    "there is no spoon"
                    biz stuff   about me

                    R Offline
                    R Offline
                    Ryan Binns
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #12

                    I'd vote 5 a thousand times if I could

                    Ryan

                    "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

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                    • A Anders Molin

                      I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                      My Photos[^]

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                      Terry ONolley
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #13

                      Could you be a little clearer please?


                      Glano perictu com sahni delorin!

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                      • J Jeff Varszegi

                        It is the same in Java, but just being able to decompile something doesn't mean that you can use it. Have you ever downloaded an obfuscated Java applet and taken a look at the decompiled source? It's not worth the time to figure out what's going on; just destroying human-readable names makes the source, well, not human-readable. This won't defeat the resources of a government agency, a corporation, or even a knowledgeable motivated person. It is some measure of protection, though; no script kiddie or even intermediate-level person will be able to use the source, and nobody'll be able to use it without some effort. I think that to say Java is used mainly for web applications is sort of silly. It's not used for systems programming, but it is widely used for just about everything else. If you have a programmable cell phone, odds are you can program it easily in Java. Oh, wait-- I forgot where I am. Scratch that last statement. ;) To each his/her own. Regards, Jeff Varszegi EEEP!  An Extensible Expression Evaluation Package

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                        Alvaro Mendez
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #14

                        Jeff Varszegi wrote: I think that to say Java is used mainly for web applications is sort of silly. It's not used for systems programming, but it is widely used for just about everything else. If you have a programmable cell phone, odds are you can program it easily in Java. Oh, wait-- I forgot where I am. Scratch that last statement. To each his/her own. :laugh: Yes, please be sure to use J# when referring to J**a in the future. :-) Regards, Alvaro


                        Give a man a fish, he owes you one fish. Teach a man to fish, you give up your monopoly on fisheries.

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                        • L l a u r e n

                          see this is another thing i really dont like about .NOT you have to give ur source code away practically but i guess since .NOT is basically a giant vm scripting language that isnt really surprising :suss:


                          "there is no spoon"
                          biz stuff   about me

                          R Offline
                          R Offline
                          Rocky Moore
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #15

                          l a u r e n wrote: you have to give ur source code away practically You do that same any program, it is just the source they see is assembler ;) Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com

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                          • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                            Doesn't work. I've talked about it with some Java guys and they say it is the same with Java. Whatever obfuscator you use, it will be still very easy to reverse-engineer your app. I guess this is one of the reasons why Java is used mainly for web applications.

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Rocky Moore
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #16

                            Nemanja Trifunovic wrote: I guess this is one of the reasons why Java is used mainly for web applications And all this time, I thought it was the ugly GUI :) Kidding aside, there actually are a lot of Java applications in use today which many people may not even know are Java. One that comes to mind that I used in the past was Source Offsite. Oh yeah, they moved to .NET and is not written in C# ;) Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com

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                            • T Terry ONolley

                              Could you be a little clearer please?


                              Glano perictu com sahni delorin!

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                              Paul Watson
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #17

                              I'm lkoiong itno Otfbusacion of .ENT aselsmebis and is wnodrenig how mnay ppoele taht atculaly uess it... If you mkae poarmgrs unisg .NET, do you Ofbucsate yuor felis bfreoe gnviig tehm to csutoemrs? Any togthuhs aobut Oifuscatobn in ganeerl? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Christopher Duncan quoted: "...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives" Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...

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                              • A Anders Molin

                                I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                                My Photos[^]

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                                Paul Watson
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #18

                                1. Nutters, opressed-from-on-high developers and pomegranates use it 2. No 3. It's daft. 4. But if you want to, then go right ahead. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Christopher Duncan quoted: "...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives" Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...

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                                • M Marcie Jones

                                  All of my .NET code is ASP.NET, so no, I don't obfuscate it :-D Marcie CP Blog[^]

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                                  Paul Watson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #19

                                  As a fellow ASP.NET developer I wish I could say the same. We do a lot of dev for partner companies, not direct to the end-client and have on ocassion been asked to obfuscate our code. So far my flat out refusal to do so has worked but I am sure one day a partner will be more stubborn than I am and I will have to actually install the VS.NET obfuscator. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Christopher Duncan quoted: "...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives" Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...

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                                  • A Anders Molin

                                    I'm looking into Obfuscation of .NET assemblies and is wondering how many people that actually uses it... If you make programs using .NET, do you Obfuscate your files before giving them to customers? Any thoughts about Obfuscation in general? - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                                    My Photos[^]

                                    N Offline
                                    N Offline
                                    Nish Nishant
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #20

                                    Hey Anders One easy way to obfuscate your code would be to get a few former-VB6 guys and ask them to write portions of your .NET assemblies. They’d write obfuscated code by default that’d beat any obfuscator’s obfuscated code. :-D Nish


                                    Now with my own blog - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com

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                                    • A Alvaro Mendez

                                      Jeff Varszegi wrote: I think that to say Java is used mainly for web applications is sort of silly. It's not used for systems programming, but it is widely used for just about everything else. If you have a programmable cell phone, odds are you can program it easily in Java. Oh, wait-- I forgot where I am. Scratch that last statement. To each his/her own. :laugh: Yes, please be sure to use J# when referring to J**a in the future. :-) Regards, Alvaro


                                      Give a man a fish, he owes you one fish. Teach a man to fish, you give up your monopoly on fisheries.

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                                      I Offline
                                      Ian Darling
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #21

                                      Alvaro Mendez wrote: Yes, please be sure to use J# when referring to J**a in the future. Or "J-Thing" - that's what I use :-)


                                      Ian Darling "If we've learned anything from history, it's that those who feed trolls are condemned to repetitive conversations. Or something like that." - Eric Lippert

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                                      • N Nish Nishant

                                        Hey Anders One easy way to obfuscate your code would be to get a few former-VB6 guys and ask them to write portions of your .NET assemblies. They’d write obfuscated code by default that’d beat any obfuscator’s obfuscated code. :-D Nish


                                        Now with my own blog - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com

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                                        Anders Molin
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #22

                                        Hehe, but I dont have any VB guys avaliable ;) - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                                        My Photos[^]

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                                        • P Paul Watson

                                          1. Nutters, opressed-from-on-high developers and pomegranates use it 2. No 3. It's daft. 4. But if you want to, then go right ahead. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Christopher Duncan quoted: "...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives" Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...

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                                          Anders Molin
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #23

                                          Paul Watson wrote: 1. Nutters, opressed-from-on-high developers and pomegranates use it 2. No May I ask why you feel this way about it? Paul Watson wrote: 4. But if you want to, then go right ahead. Of course, I do what I want to ;) But I don't know if its worth the efford... - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application[^]

                                          My Photos[^]

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