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"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President

Welcome to the latest edition of CrypKey Distributor News, the newsletter exclusively for distributors of CrypKey (Canada) Inc.

CrypKey Distributor News is issued monthly to keep you up-to-date on the latest CrypKey product and company news and information.

Note: If you wish to opt out of this newsletter, please send a blank email to optOut@crypKey.com. If you have any questions, please contact us at sales@crypKey.com.

July Special Offer

Have you tried CrypKey USBKey yet? If not, obtain CrypKey USBKey loaded with a Site Key Generator for just $99.00 USD with the purchase of any new CrypKey license during July 2005.

Qualifying products for the new license include CrypKey Instant, CrypKey SDK, CrypKey SKGL, CrypKey DLM, Casper eRegister and Casper eCommerce.

Note: This offer will expire on July 31, 2005.

CrypKey Instant / CrypKey SDK 7.0 Beta Test

The beta testing of CrypKey 7.0 and the release dates will be conducted in two phases.

• Phase I - NET Functionality. As we have previously noted, we will introduce “True Encryption” of .NET assemblies with the upcoming launch of our newest version, CrypKey 7.0.
• Previously, until now, programmers could use the DLL, COM object, or .NET assembly from CrypKey SDK to implement CrypKey features. CrypKey 7.0 will add a new layer of protection to this.
• Current market solutions (“obfuscators”)* try to hide the source code through various measures but ultimately leave the MSIL source code potentially exposed. Even inexperienced unauthorized users can drill down to the CIL/MSIL, modify jump points to by-pass security functions, and then re-assemble a new version of a .NET application. With CrypKey 7.0, the CIL/MSIL is not exposed, providing a real solution to developers.

*For info on obfuscators, see our Feature Article in Section 5 of this newsletter.

Phase II - Enterprise Networking Enhancements, Driver Communication Changes, Improved License Transfer.

Enterprise Network Licensing. CrypKey 7.0 will enable a protected program to function anywhere on the enterprise network, thanks to the new version's ability to automatically find the license server and transact with it, thereby securing its seat on the network. The networking capability is transparent to the user. The client is not required to have read/write permissions to the server directory and will not need to know where the directory is located.

Separate Process for NGN. This will now be a separate process and allow the user to debug the program while using CrypKey. CrypKey Stealth can be added once debugging is no longer required.

Enhanced Transfer. Users will be able to transfer licenses out of and back into a license pool. This feature will work for any kind of transfer including direct, floppy, and e-transfers.

Thanks again to all those involved in our Beta Testing. We will be in touch you prior to the start of Phase I.

64-Bit Windows and CrypKey

If you are wondering about the effect of Microsoft's release of 64-bit Windows in April 2005 on CrypKey solutions, see answers to the questions below.

	1. Will my 32-bit CrypKey-protected application run on 64-bit Windows machines?
	If you've asked this question, you're not alone.
		Although it is a bit too soon to officially say yes, the odds are 100 to 1 that it will. 64-bit machines and Windows will likely be highly backwards compatible with all 32-bit software.
	2. Does CrypKey offer support for 64 bit apps?
		It is unlikely that you are developing a 64-bit app that needs protection. Why?
		i) 64-bit apps only run on 64-bit computers. This is not a likely scenario for mass marketed protection-needy software. ii) Very few applications exist in which 64 bits would be needed or even helpful at this time. Most applications don't come near to pushing the boundaries of 32 bits.
		If you truly require a 64-bit app, however, it is likely a very expensive one. In this case, please contact us regarding custom protection development for it.

To read more on this topic, you may wish to see the article in MIT's Technology Review by Simson Garfunkel entitled “The 64-Bit Question”. Find the article at the link below: http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/06/wo_garfinkel060204.asp?p=1 .

What Is Obfuscation?

A primary goal of software protection is the prevention of humanly-understood reverse-engineered code. One way to achieve this goal is to make understanding as difficult as possible.

Encryption, generally the most effective way to achieve data security, is often compared to obfuscation; however, the goals of each are different. Here are the purposes and key differences between them.

Encryption

Definition • A lossless, two-way transformation that provides strong protection for hiding data or executable code; with lossless compression, every bit of data originally in a file remains after the file is uncompressed.

Purpose • To protect against reverse engineering.

How It Works • Utilizes password or key to hide data from those without access to the key.

Pros • Stronger than obfuscation; cannot be circumvented.

Obfuscation

Definition • A lossy, one-way transformation of data (most obfuscating transforms cannot be undone because they are one-way transformations); lossy compression reduces a file by permanently eliminating certain (especially redundant) information; when a file is uncompressed, only part of the original information is still there, although the user may not notice it.

Purpose • To prevent recompilation of software code; the goal is to destroy relationships that exist between compiled and source-code versions of code.

How It Works • Accepts a source file and generates another functionally equivalent source file that is much harder to understand or reverse engineer; deletes comments, remove neat indentation and white space and encodes constants in unreadable ways; renames identifiers in source from their original self-explanatory names to meaningless terms that convey no information.

Pros  • Requires no changes to compilation or execution procedures or environment.

Cons • Does not prevent reverse engineering by very determined opponents; with sufficient persistence and know-how can be circumvented.

For more information, check our upcoming white paper on our website at www.crypkey.com.

Share Your Ideas

Let us know which topics you would like to see in upcoming issues of CrypKey Distributor News. If you would like to learn more about specific technical aspects of CrypKey products, please tell us. Send your requests and suggestions to us at sales@crypKey.com.


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We appreciate doing business with you. Thank-you for reading and have a great day!

Sincerely,
Team CrypKey