.Net assemblies decompilers

[Guest]

Hello.

Is any way to avoid .net assemblies decompilation with programs like
Reflector? How much effective those programs are?.

I appreciate some link or book about those themes.

thanks!

 

[Michael Giagnocavo [MVP]]

Stopping a decompilation program is simple, since they need to go from a
lower-level language like IL, to a higher-level language such as VB. There
are many things one can represent and do in IL that's not possible to
represent or do in VB. A decent obfuscator should handle this no problem.

Stopping a decompiler is neigh impossible, since one way or another, your
application has to run, and thus the data has to be around somewhere. An
encrypted loader can help some since your IL wouldn't sit around on disk.

Generally speaking, anything can be cracked. It all depends on how much
demand there is. If it's the next version of Windows, NOTHING you do will be
sufficient to stop determined crackers. You also need to weigh it against
impact against your users. Programs like SafeDisc can really screw your
users up, and provide a dubious level of protection.

Now, if you're just concerned about people understanding your code, well, an
obfuscator + encrypted loader is probably your best bet.

 

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Is any way to avoid .net assemblies decompilation with programs like
Reflector? How much effective those programs are?.

See http://www.pobox.com/~skeet/csharp/faq/#obfuscation

 

[Guest]

Hi,

You could obfuscate your assembly which will make it hard to decompile.

Visual Studio .NET 2003 ships with a community edition of Dotfuscator.
Channel 9 has a video on this as well:
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=29505

HTH,
Rakesh Rajan

 

[Scott M.]

Stopping a decompilation program is simple, since they need to go from a

lower-level language like IL, to a higher-level language such as VB.

I didn't know this was possible. I thought decompilation was when you
looked at the assembly decompiled into IL.

There are many things one can represent and do in IL that's not possible to
represent or do in VB.

Can you give an example? I thought that all .NET languages were on par with
each other as far as capabilities go.