Category: Dotfuscator

PreEmptive Dotfuscator Ranks High in G2 Fall 2023 Grid Report

Post author By PreEmptive Team
Post date November 8, 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

It’s that time of the year again! G2 recently rolled out their much-anticipated Fall 2023 reports. These quarterly reports examined 16,000+ products across 1,000+ categories to identify the trendsetters, the top performers, the rising stars, and the game-changing shifts in the software arena. We’re excited to say that Dotfuscator App Protection for .NET & Xamarin (and now MAUI) fared extremely well, with 100% of users giving it 4 or 5 stars and most saying they would recommend it.

A Closer Look at the G2 Fall 2023 Report

G2 is the premier business software review platform. They rigorously assess and rank software products based on genuine user feedback and evaluations. The reports look at marketplace data to determine the software tools that are making the biggest splash in the market, which are most useful, which ones are people actually using.

In other words, it’s not which company bought a sponsorship and gets to have their software placed at the top of the list alongside the same boring, sanitized marketing copy we’ve all seen a thousand times. It’s about which software the developers in the trenches rely on. Straight forward feedback, no fluff.

How Dotfuscator Performed

We like to say that when it comes to the ease of doing business and quality of support, nobody is better than PreEmptive. In fact, in the Relationship Index for Mobile Data Security report, Dotfuscator ranked first ahead of Check Point Mobile Access, Prey, LIAPP, Salesforce Security and Privacy, MVISION Mobile and others.

Dotfuscator also made the upper ranks of the Relationship Index for Data Security report, and it was named as a high-performing product with remarkable customer success in the Report for Data Security.

Your Security Is Our Success

When you consider that the Grid reports is the voice of real users and not one lone analyst, we’re proud and thankful to our Dotfuscator users who shared their positive experiences reflected in the G2 Fall 2023 Grid Reports.

At PreEmptive, we’re not just committed to upholding the gold standard; we’re driven to raise the bar even higher. If you’re a .NET programmer in need of the best source code security, let us show you what that’s all about. We invite you to witness Dotfuscator for yourself with a free trial.

Dotfuscator Support Corner

Support Corner: Protecting .NET MAUI Applications

Post author By John Brawner
Post date October 4, 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

PreEmptive has a long-standing history of working with clients building Xamarin apps. With the introduction of Multi-platform App UI (MAUI), set to replace Xamarin as the go-to solution for creating versatile apps across platforms using .NET, Dotfuscator has been adeptly updated to offer support to MAUI, alongside its existing support to Xamarin.

The Challenge: Security in MAUI Apps

MAUI apps install managed assembly files on the end user’s machine or device. Take an MSIX installer, for example; it will place .dll files into the Program Files directory (C:\Program Files\WindowsApp). These files are susceptible to decompiling and reverse engineering using tools like ILSpy, posing a significant risk if your app contains trade secrets or manages sensitive data:

The Solution: Dotfuscator Integration

This is a problem if your app contains trade secrets or handles sensitive data. The good news is this is very easy to remediate by installing and then integrating Dotfuscator directly into your application’s project file (.csproj, .vbproj):

This will trigger Dotfuscator to run before any packaging or deployment steps of a Release build, ensuring that your binaries are secure before they are deployed:

With Xamarin, the protection process involved integrating Dotfuscator into separate Visual Studio projects for Android, iOS, and UWP. MAUI simplifies this by allowing a single Visual Studio project to build apps for Windows, Android, iOS, and Mac. This means integrating Dotfuscator just once protects your app across all these platforms.

After this basic integration, your MAUI app will be safeguarded from reverse engineering, allowing for the secure deployment of protected binaries to Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows:

Shield .NET MAUI Applications With PreEmptive

The introduction of .NET MAUI presents exciting possibilities and highlights the need for enhanced security. Dotfuscator provides a robust solution, protecting against reverse engineering and the vulnerabilities of decompiling. It supports the diversified application environment enabled by MAUI and simplifies the integration process, enabling developers to easily secure applications across different platforms with just a single integration.

If you have feedback on this topic or other topics you would like us to discuss in the Support Corner, please contact our Support Department.

Dotfuscator

Presenting Dotfuscator 6.5: Major Maintenance Update!

Post author By PreEmptive Team
Post date September 13, 2022

Reading Time: 2 minutes

PreEmptive is pleased to announce the release of Dotfuscator 6.5, a tool used by software developers to protect code from hacking and reverse engineering.

The version 6.5 update is a big one. It addresses various .NET Core, .NET 5, and cross-platform support items, fixes various bugs, and improves performance of the licensing system that was introduced earlier this year. We’ve added new static and dynamic code transforms and injected runtime checks to ensure security in all stages of the development process. We also amplified defense against de-obfuscators and de-compilers.

Dotfuscator at a Glance

Dotfuscator is a DevSecOps tool that protects .NET applications from reverse-engineering and hacking. Using static and dynamic code transforms and injected runtime checks, Dotfuscator obfuscates source code on .NET, Xamarin, and Windows Platform Apps. It integrates into the development build process and operates on the .NET Intermediate Language. Dotfuscator Professional supports .NET, including .NET Core, .NET 5, Xamarin, and Mono.

For more information, check out Dotfuscator 101. It’ll walk you through its features and show how the program provides ironclad security against common (and uncommon) software development vulnerabilities.

New Features & Fixes in Version 6.5

The release notes provide fully detailed information about the updates in this version, which include:

Simplified license key use
Improved subscription checks from the license server
Status messaging for Dotfuscator CLI and MSBuild integration users
Added support for NuGet packages
Improved V2 license verification
Compatibility with both forward and backslashes
Accelerated Dotfuscator GUI build time
dnSpy detection
Improved support for Nullable Reference Types
Updated Xamarin Android Tamper Check to use new APIs
Sample project showing how to use Dotfuscator with Azure DevOps
Additional samples for non-Windows environments
Tamper and Debugging Check for .NET Core 3.1 and .NET 5 apps

Upgrade or Download a Demo Today!

Every organization developing .NET software needs Dotfuscator in its development process. Data breaches are no longer a maybe. They happen every day to companies of all sizes in all industries. If you don’t protect your code at the onset, you risk becoming just one more data breach statistic.

PreEmptive Dotfuscator has been the leader in In-App security since 2003. We serve clients of all sizes, including enterprise and Fortune 500 companies in medical, government, and other industries. This release is supported for licensed users as described in the release notes. We encourage you to upgrade your software to enjoy the new features. And if you haven’t tried Dotfuscator yet, request a demo today.

Tags Application Protection, Devsecops, Dotfuscator, preemptive, release

Dotfuscator Support Corner

Protecting Windows Forms Applications with Data Bound GUI Controls

Post author By John Brawner
Post date February 10, 2022
Sticky post

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Today we will focus on data binding, but first let’s define this. Data binding allows Windows Forms applications to display and update UI controls from a data source, without having to modify source code for the control itself.

When protecting Windows Forms applications, it is important to note how the data bound controls are constructed to determine if they will be impacted by code obfuscation. If the controls bind to a collection of objects, original property names of that object must be preserved to correctly populate “DisplayMember” and “ValueMember” properties of the control. When binding controls to an Enum, the original names of its members must be preserved, or the GUI control might show obfuscated names. On the other hand, if we’re binding directly to a database table (and the table does not map to an object in source code), we don’t need any custom configurations because Dotfuscator does not mangle table and column names.

Consider the Following Example:

This simple Windows Forms application has three UI controls with different data binding techniques: a DataGridView binds to a Customer table in a database, a ListBox binds to a collection of Employee objects, and ComboBox binds to an Enum called DaysOfWeek:

If I obfuscate with project defaults, I experience a runtime error at app startup:

This occurs because original property names of the Employee object are used in “DisplayMember” and “ValueMember” ListBox properties:

listBox1.DataSource = employeeList;

listBox1.DisplayMember = “Name”;

listBox1.ValueMember = “Department”;

To Avoid the Runtime Error:

First, I’ll open my project configuration file (DotfuscatorConfig.xml) in the Dotfuscator Config Editor, and set a Rename exclusion for the properties in the Employee object:

After configuring this Rename exclusions, the application starts without the runtime exception, but the “DaysOfWeek” ComboBox appears with obfuscated names:

In order to fix this, I will configure a Rename exclusion for the members of DaysOfWeek.

After providing this Rename exclusion, the app starts without any issues or erroneous behavior. Please also note the DataGridView, which binds to the Customer table in our database, did not require any Rename configuration to start and display correctly.

Conclusion

There are several different ways to use data binding in Windows Forms applications. We’ve seen a few ways that data bound controls can be impacted by obfuscation. If you experienced a runtime crash or erroneous UI behavior after applying obfuscation, please use the above steps to resolve the issue.

The full example can be downloaded here.

If you have any feedback on this topic or other topics you would like us to discuss in the Support Corner, please feel free to contact our Support Department.

Tags Applications, Data Binding, Dotfuscator, GUI Controls, preemptive, Windows Forms

Dotfuscator

Surgical Theater Protects their Medical Applications with Dotfuscator

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date January 19, 2021

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Surgical Theater Protects their Medical Applications with Dotfuscator

How It All Started

How is flying a fighter plane similar to performing neurosurgery? They have more in common than you’d think. In 2005, Monty Avisar and Alon Geri, two Israeli fighter pilots were assigned to work with Lockheed Martin to build a $50 million F-16 Flight Simulator program for the Israeli Air Force to improve hand-eye coordination skills for their pilots during combat. Avisar took on the role of project manager and Geri served as senior engineer; the project was a success.

Dotfuscator

Dotfuscator 6: The Next Era of Dotfuscator

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date May 5, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In the months since we released the Dotfuscator 6 beta, we’ve been hard at work finishing the feature set, fixing issues, and putting on the final touches in preparation for the full release. Now, we are happy to announce the full availability of Dotfuscator 6!

Dotfuscator

Building on a Mac with Dotfuscator 6 In Azure DevOps

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date February 4, 2020

Reading Time: 4 minutes

PreEmptive is dedicated to protecting your apps, wherever and however they are built. Our recent release of the Dotfuscator 6.0 beta adds cross-platform support, allowing you to protect your application on other platforms besides Windows. This allows for intuitive integration into Xamarin.iOS projects on macOS.

Dotfuscator

Dotfuscator 6.0 Beta: Entering the Next Era of Dotfuscator

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date December 19, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Dotfuscator 6.0 is now available, with cross-platform support and more!

Dotfuscator

Highlights From .NET Conference 2019

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date September 26, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes

PreEmptive has partnered with Microsoft for 16 years and we’ve been involved with .NET since before version 1.0 shipped. From that perspective, it’s hard for us to pinpoint a time where the energy and enthusiasm in the .NET community has been higher than it is now. Over the past few years, Microsoft has put together the annual .NET Conf, completely online with viewers, participants, and local events all over the world. The event is virtual and streamed live over three days.

Dotfuscator

Is your Mobile App GDPR Compliant? Learn how to secure your App

Post author By Michelle Pruitt
Post date July 23, 2019

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Before I start, I would like to thank PreEmptive for inviting me to write a guest post.

I would like to start my blog with a discussion about the growing cyber threats all over the world. I assume readers are well aware of cyber threats and how they are addressed by people, process, and technology.