I concur. I would think the motivations for breaking PC code just aren't there in the MF world.
Frankly, I would much rather all that effort be put into making the product more robust and easier to use. A simple licensing agreement gives you legal recourse and should take care of all but the most determined. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Tony Harminc Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 10:20 PM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: Any products to protect MVS software from cracking and reverse engineering? 2009/6/8 shai hess <shai.h...@gmail.com>: > Any products to protect MVS software from cracking and reverse engineering? [...] > In PC the software companies try to make the life of hackers hard by using > anti debugger tools to make the hackers confuse but eventually these action > make the debugging in PC harder for more minutes or hours but nobody can > protect the PC software from being cracked. Many years ago (1980s) I did encounter a VM product that tested for several forms of tracing (PER, VM TRACE command) being on, and took different code paths and even disabled PER at times. But it was (and is) very rare. What would be the point of cracking or reverse engineering mainframe software? It is a rare piece of software that has a lot of value locked up in a secret-sauce algorithm. Most software, imho, has its value in the support services rather than magic code. To be sure, someone could license a mainframe software product, and then defeat the licensing scheme. But to what end? I have worked for several ISVs over the years, and I have yet to see any serious evidence of any of our products being stolen by either a customer or a distributor. (Yeah, yeah - I know; if they were successful we wouldn't know about it.) I'm not saying it never happens, but realistically, what kind of customer would run such software? Or to put it another way, what would be your sales pitch for PC-like tools to protect mainframe software? Tony H. NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message, together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
