PreEmptive Extends Free Access to Dotfuscator for WP7 Plus New WP8/WinRT Plans

December 27, 2012 4665 Views Sebastian Holst

PreEmptive Solutions is pleased to announce our extended support for Windows Phone and WinRT apps. The specifics are as follows: Dotfuscator for Windows Phone 7: PreEmptive Solutions will be extending complimentary access to Dotfuscator for Windows Phone 7 through April, 2013. This means that existing users will continue to have access to world-class obfuscation for their WP7 apps; also, new users will continue to have complimentary access as well. Dotfuscator Professional: Dotfuscator Professional currently supports obfuscation for Windows Phone 7 (WP7), Windows Phone 8 (WP8) and WinRT. The professional SKU will soon include the injection of application instrumentation for WP8 and WinRT as well (WP7 is already supported). This professional SKU also supports all flavors and versions of the .NET Framework beyond mobile including Windows 8. Announcement Dotfuscator for Windows Phone and WinRT: This new version of Dotfuscator will be available in early 2013 and will support all modern surfaces including WP7, WP8 and WinRT apps. Special pricing: This WP/WinRT version of Dotfuscator, let’s call it Dotfuscator WW for now, will be offered in two ways; one for the individual hobbyist or “moonlighter” and another for development teams requiring higher levels of support and more flexible deployment options. In both cases, pricing will be set at a significantly lower price point as compared to our standard Professional SKU (due to the unique nature of this “consumer-focused” market as well as the limited functionality of the Dotfuscator WW SKU, e.g. it only operates on WinRT and Windows Phone apps). Conclusion For those developers targeting Windows Phone 7 - you are all set through April 2013. Look for Dotfuscator for WinRT and Windows Phone in 2013 that offers IP protection across all of Microsoft's modern surfaces priced to accommodate the "modern developer." Can’t wait to protect your WP8 or WinRT code? Contact us at sales@preemptive.com and I’m sure we will be able to work something out. FAQ: Will my Dotfuscator for WP7 expire at the end of 2012? No – it will expire on 4/30/2013. If I am targeting WP7 and obfuscating with Dotfuscator WP7, will my app run on a WP8 phone? Yes! When will Dotfuscator for WP and WINRT be available? We are not committing to a specific date at this time, but the date will be well before the expiry of Dotfuscator for WP7 – developers will have plenty of time to make the transition if they so desire. Is there any support for Windows Phone 8 or WinRT today? Yes, Dotfuscator Professional supports these and all other .NET flavors. For pricing and availability, you can contact sales@preemptive.com. Will there be a free version of Dotfuscator for Windows Phone after 4/30/2013? Only Dotfuscator Community Edition (CE) included with Visual Studio will be free after 4/30/2013. Dotfuscator CE 2012 (the version embedded inside Visual Studio 2012) can obfuscate Windows Phone assemblies, but it cannot automatically consume XAP files and so there are additional steps required to make this work. Dotfuscator CE 2012 cannot obfuscate WinRT apps at all. What about instrumentation and exception monitoring? There has been no complimentary access to PreEmptive’s Runtime Intelligence Service since Microsoft discontinued its funding for the Windows Phone development community. However, if a developer injects exception monitoring specifically (versus feature tracking) via Dotfuscator, developers can now take advantage of PreEmptive Analytics for TFS that is included as a part of Visual Studio and TFS 2012. If you don’t already use TFS, check with Microsoft as they have a number of very attractive campaigns to make TFS available at no cost to small development teams. Of course, for a subscription fee, PreEmptive Solutions supports session, feature, user and exception monitoring and analytics across all .NET runtimes and devices as well as JavaScript, C++, Java and Android. For more information on PreEmptive Analytics, visit www.preemptive.com/pa Will Dotfuscator for WinRT and Windows Phone be able to obfuscate or instrument other .NET applications? No. The full Dotfuscator Professional will be required. What is the difference between a development team license and a hobbyist license? The final details have not been published yet, but the distinction should be fairly intuitive; if you are developing an app on your own or even with a few buddies to see if you can make a mark in this new and exciting world of modern apps – and you’re doing this outside of your “day job” – you are most definitely a hobbyist – no matter how successful your work may be – and we hope it is wildly successful. If you’re building an app for your employer – then you’re going to require a development team option (and you’re going to want it too for your own requirements). We will of course be crystal clear on all of this as we officially release Dotfuscator WW and, as always, if you have any immediate questions on this, email sales@preemptive.com and someone will get back to you promptly.

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The dynamic type in C# provides flexibility that is not available in other statically-typed languages. Since its introduction in C# 4.0 (.NET 4.5), we have worked with customers who wanted to know more about how dynamic types are impacted by the obfuscation process.

Malicious actors — like any thieves — live by a simple rule: If the front door is locked, break the window.

It’s why threats like fileless malware and crypto-jacking have seen substantial gains over last few years. It’s why — despite increasing employee education and IT training — hackers are still hooking phish by developing more sophisticated and authentic-looking email spoofs. Cybercriminal communities, meanwhile, continue to grow on the dark web, allowing attackers to share info, purchase exploit kits and identify potential targets.

What does this mean for CISOs? That typical defense efforts are being outpaced as familiar attack vectors are replaced with non-traditional threats. But it’s not all bad news; here are three questions every CISO needs to ask to help close the doors, bolt the windows and leave hackers out in the cold.

Gabriel, you have been in the security industry for over 2 decades. You have seen many different tools and services. Why create a company around something as specific as obfuscation and in-app protection?

Our customers build a lot of really innovative apps that enable their users and customers to do new and cool things. These apps frequently run on untrusted client computers/devices and they control access to customer’s sensitive data or critical devices.

And after all the effort of designing, building, debugging, and deploying their applications, the last thing they want is for an attacker to steal their work or use it to look for vulnerabilities to break into their system.

Long ago, we built a Java code optimizer, but it became clear to us that our customer cared more about the obfuscation effects of the optimization than the actual performance improvement. That is when we really began to focus on app protection. First with Java, then .NET, Android, iOS, Xamarin, JavaScript, etc.

Gartner calls In-App Protection “crucial” in their July 2019 Market Guide for In-App Protection In-App Protection. The guide’s summary advises security and risk management leaders to “take due care in protecting their application clients” in order to avoid “security failure.”

This raises the question – what constitutes “due care?” Obviously, no development organization looks to recklessly expose their applications or sensitive data to attack or compromise. On the other hand, over-engineered (or poorly engineered) security controls can quickly lead to excessive development costs, performance and quality issues, and, ultimately, unacceptable user experiences. While terms and terminology may vary, there is broad consensus on how to best define “due care” for any given application/user scenario.

If you don’t follow application security closely, you might think of application obfuscation and symbol renaming as being synonymous – and with good reason. Many platforms and languages, like .NET, Java, and JavaScript have popular obfuscators that do little else--our own Dotfuscator Community Edition for .NET and ProGuard for Java are good examples. However, obfuscation is far more than symbol renaming – and in-app protection is far more than obfuscation. Much of this expansion has been driven by new security requirements, shifting attack vectors, the rise of mobile and IoT computing and, lastly, the growing recognition inside regulations and legislation of the exposure that can result from inadequately protected software.

PreEmptive Extends Free Access to Dotfuscator for WP7 Plus New WP8/WinRT Plans

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