Companies that create valuable software work to protect source code (and lessen the risk of reverse engineering). Keeping source code under control is relatively easy, but not letting it be obtained from reverse engineered can be difficult. It is common knowledge that with freely available tools, many applications (especially ones written in Java or .NET) can be turned back into source code.
To keep your code a secret in the first place by thwarting reverse engineering tools and making reverse engineering much harder even for skilled hackers.
To show that you (the trade secret holder) took “reasonable” precautions to protect your IP and strengthen claims of theft and misappropriation.
Other than yourself, nobody cares more about protecting your code then PreEmptive does. We have been protecting applications for almost 20 years. If you want to protect your applications against reverse engineering and tampering, please consider taking a look at our tools (we promise you will not be disappointed), or read more with our Reverse Engineering: A Complete Guide.
Defining Reverse Engineering
4 Most Common Tools Hackers Reverse Engineer Code
Best Practices and more