SoftwareShield Security Questions

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• Regarding the Alias License Files security, are the file accesses made in such a way as to be visible (say) via FileMon available from sysinternals.com? Is this secure?

  Yes, they are visible to monitoring software; however, it is still secure.

  Note that even if a hacker were to delete all these Alias Files, they still have to deal with the main license file, which is kept up to date with the state of the application. Also - as soon as the app is restarted and the ClientProtector can not find any aliases or the virgin installation key, the aliases are re-written. If instead of deleting them, they want to try and tamper with the files, they must first break the 512-bit encryption employed (not an easy task).

• Can a dishonest user defeat the license and effectively have an unlimited trial period by repeatedly creating new Windows users?

  No, depending on how you design your license. Note that only the first user (the one who installed the software) will be able to use the program at all (regardless of trial period) *IF* you select "User Name" in the "System FingerPrint Options" in the license project *OR* any one of the Alias Files you build into the license is a "registry" alias and is written to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch, *OR* uses a hidden alias in a folder which does not have the correct permissions for the subject user (such as the system folder).

  If you do not do any of the above - then any user can use the program. However - they will not get any additional trial period - the trial period will be unaffected by a new or different user running the program.