Software publisher or distributor configurable software security

Abstract

The present invention, generally speaking, provides a software protection mechanism that may be conveniently configured by a software publisher and applied to a software product. Various predefined software protection measures are presented to the software publisher, who selects which protection measures, if any, the software publisher wishes to apply to a software product. The software publisher may select all of the software protection measures, none of the software protection measures, or any logically consistent combination thereof. An option is also provided for the software publisher to provide code implementing a custom software protection mechanism. The software publisher's selections are saved in a license file that is attached to the software product. A Protector Module is also attached to the software product. The Protector Module includes code for each predefined software protection option. When an attempt is made to run the software product, the Protector Module reads the license file and executes code for each software protection option that has been selected. If the software-publisher-defined option is selected, the Protector Module causes publisher-provided software protection code to be executed. The publisher-provided code may be added as part of the license file, for example, or as a separate dynamically loadable code module. The resulting software protection mechanism provides the software publisher complete control over the trade-off between security and user convenience.