Protecting software against piracy and reverse engineering
Arxan protects Intellectual Property from software piracy, tampering, reverse engineering and any manner of theft. We protect software, and fortify License Management and DRM applications.
Arxan makes intellectual property (IP) theft virtually impossible, so developers of software applications,including multi-media and DRM applications, can safeguard their revenues. For the past 5 years, Arxan’s IP fortification technology has been protecting America’s critical military infrastructure. Today, defense agencies as well as Global 500 companies, trust Arxan to protect their IP.
Name: Mike Dager Position: CEO Previous positions: CEO and Chairman of the Board, Worksoft. President and CEO of OSE Systems Inc Education: Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
In the following interview, Mike Dager, CEO - Arxan discusses with Rake Narang, Editor-in-chief of Info Security Products Guide, how to protect software against piracy and reverse engineering.
Rake Narang, Chief Editor - Info Security Products Guide:Why are software applications a target for theft? What type of threats are common these days? Mike Dager, CEO - Arxan: Software applications are a major target for theft because the IP they contain is so valuable. Hackers and pirates consider their endeavors a legitimate and lucrative business, and can make profitable margins by selling counterfeit versions of the applications. Software piracy is a problem so rampant across the globe today that an estimated 40 billion dollars in software revenues was lost in 2006 alone. Piracy is estimated to be growing at 20 percent every year, with an expectation of 200 billion dollars in losses over the next four years. To put it another way, for every two dollars of software sold, one dollar’s worth is pirated. On average, companies lose 35 percent of their annual software revenues to piracy.
Software applications are also at risk as many organizations still lack the education needed to stop these threats. Innovative solutions are available on the market, however, to safeguard their software assets and preserve revenues.
Hackers exploit various vulnerabilities in software implementations to unlock functionality and enable unrestricted piracy. Popular exploits and their threats include tampering, reverse engineering, spoofing the presence of valid licenses and dissociating license management routines altogether.
Of course, hackers and pirates can also build counterfeit products. Valuable IP or proprietary algorithms within advanced software can be reverse engineered or simply extracted, and packaged into a new counterfeit software offering. These packages are generally independently branded and sold at a significantly lower price point than the
original, eroding the value of entire product lines. License management is not designed to protect IP implementations within software.
"Software privacy is a major intellectual property and revenue loss for most companies. Reverse engineering can totally destroy the original applications or make them easily vulnerable to unwanted threats. Arxan's solutions provide the much needed protection these companies need."
Rake Narang, Editor-in-chief, Info Security Products Guide
Arxan GuardIT All
Rake Narang:How has Arxan kept up with innovation? What is the secret behind the products and services provided by your company? How is your company focusing on 2008 growth?
Mike Dager: Obfuscation and encryption are certainly important first layers to protecting software against piracy and reverse engineering. However, with today’s sophisticated hacker profile, these static measures are no longer sufficient to provide durable, resilient protection for valuable IP. Arxan’s technology includes, but also goes beyond obfuscation and encryption to actively and dynamically protect software.
Arxan defends, detects, and reacts to attempted attacks through a layered and dynamic network of Guards™. Guards are small security modules that are inserted directly into a compiled binary. These small units protect not only your program, but also each other, forming an intricate security web that is deeply embedded into and inextricable from the protected application. Each type of Guard protects against a specific threat (such as tampering) or provides a specific defense mechanism (such as self-healing). The resulting benefit is a durable, resilient, flexible and scalable best-of-breed protection that minimally impacts application performance (if at all), and seamlessly fits into the software development lifecycle.
The company’s growth for 2008 includes a continued focus on expanding our commercial market, product augmentation, advances in core technology and broader go-to-market channels.
Rake Narang: Will the security vendors always be playing a catch-up game with hackers and attackers? How do you see the security products evolving 2-3 years from today? Mike Dager: The nature of security requires security providers to, at a minimum, keep pace with the attackers. Hence, companies are placing greater emphasis on the durability and resilience of software protection solutions. Arxan is dedicated to not only keep pace with threats presented by today’s sophisticated attack landscape, but also to leapfrog these efforts. By providing proven solutions, that not only defend, but also prevent against attempted attacks, through both effective breach management and intrusion detection, Arxan enables its customers to stay far ahead of the game in protecting their software-based IP. Security products will continue to become provide customers with comprehensive offerings that allow them to satisfy their security requirements with fewer vendors.
All About Arxan Head Office Address: 6903 Rockledge Drive, Suite 910, Bethesda, MD 20817 Founded in: 2001 CEO: Mike Dager Public or Private: Private Investors: Dunrath Capital, EDF Ventures, Paladin Homeland Security Fund, Solstice Capital, TDF, Trident Capital Products: GuardIT® for Commercial Software Applications, EnforcIT® for DoD Critical Program Information Company’s Goals: Continue to be the leader in software protection solutions and to double revenue. Awards Won:
(1) 2007 Info Security Products GuideCustomer Trust Global Product Excellence in Intellectual Property Protection Award
(2) 2007 Info Security Products GuideTomorrow’s Technology Today Award for Application Security
(3) 2007 Info Security Products GuideBest Deployment Award
(4) Named ‘Cool Vendor’ by Gartner
