Developing an efficient software protection and licensing scheme

Abstract

Copyright infringement, in everyday language software piracy, is a problem the software industry has faced from its very beginning. Today, the issue is greater than ever as software sells continue to grow and new information sharing technologies simplify file sharing. This thesis investigates how to develop a robust and efficient technical software protection scheme from the viewpoint of one specific business scenario, namely Company A’s. The presented solution applies current state of practice techniques based on recommendations from the industry and research. In particular, we use digital signatures and symmetric ciphers as core technologies to develop a lightweight protection scheme against illegal use and redistribution. Stronger protection schemes aiming to stop the more experienced adversary are analyzed as well. In the final analysis we argue that we found a solution provides adequate function and protection for the given business scenario. The claims are based on a security evaluation together with feedback from the Company A.