>> Our app asks for a simple 5-digit unlock key based on the user's RegCode (or
>> Pilot User Name). What kinds of things could we do to discourage most
>> (PalmPilot) hackers? [...]
>This is probably wandering a little off topic, but I can't see how anyone
>could justify a substantial increase of code size on every honest customers
>Pilot just to frustrate crackers.
It depends, doesn't it? It might be unreasonable to copy-protect an 200
byte-Hack with 20 k code, but for an 300k database-Program even 10 k don't
matter too much - either the user has plenty of ram or not.
>I'm sure any cracker with a modest knowledge of Palm applications and the
>68K would be able to break any complicated scheme an author cared to try.
Of course. The tool for that are brilliant ourdays. Even self-modifying
code would be ez-to-crack.
I really can only think of two methods:
- Selling the app rather cheap so crackers don't feel it's a good target as
the save maybe ten US,
- combined with serialnr checking all over the place. Not separate
function-calls but inlined in the code, on many separate points, each just
verifying one digit or so of the reg-code so it is hard to spot all the
places.
Ciao,
Tom_E
