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.netasp.netdllcopy-protection

How can I protect my ASP.Net Source Code From My Developers


This seems like a weird position to be in, but let me ask the question anyway.

I have created some DLLs that do some magical mumbo-jumbo that is needed to display the content for the website I am making right now in ASP.Net. I've got a small team of developers who can help me with this, but I am afraid that they will steal my code (the DLL) and use it in projects when they leave my company. In a software I can probably prove that they are using my DLL to generate the content, but on a server where the DLLs are not available to public I can't.

So in spite of having a team I've been working on this all alone.

My question is. Is there any way you can think of using which I can protect my DLL (which goes into the bin folder) so that my coders can't steal it, or it becomes unusable if stolen.

I just want to protect whatever goes into the bin folder.


Solution

  • You could have the dll check its environment and fail to work (I suggest you make it give wrong results rather than break) if the environment does not feel like home. You will also have to obfuscate the code to hamper efforts to remove the protection.

    Edit: you could use an environment variable, registry key, existence of a performance counter, an obscure setting in machine.config, etc., and make it look like a genuine setting, then obfuscate and sign with a strong name.