Processor ID for security purposes 1

[Andviv]

Hi.

How can I find the processor ID in a computer?
The situation is like this, we have a software with a very restrictive licensing mode and it is suppouse to run only in "that" specific machine. My boss want to find the processor id and "lock" the system to only work with that processor, forcing the client to come back to us if they want to install it again in other machine.

What alternatives do I have?

Thanks in advance

 

[Andviv]

Thanks Matt.

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

bear in mind all of these including the hardware doggle are not that hard to break if the user wants to. You just have to look at the risk factor and decide how hard you want to make it for someone to crack your security. And note it is possible to alter MAC addresses in some cases.

Can I ask specifically why you want it limited to just a certian machine?

 

[mattKnight]

SemperFiDownUnda
> bear in mind all of these including the hardware doggle are not that hard to break if the user wants to

Absolutely, It is a case of hassle vs security, as has been stated before: if you do something that will defeat 90% of users "just wanting a copy on another machine" then something like this is likely to be sufficient. It's the 10% who will not be deterred.

> And note it is possible to alter MAC addresses in some cases.

I agree which is why

>The other option is to look for the MAC address, which is hard coded into the NIC and combine it with say the HDD serial. This can provided a feed back to your key generator

so long as only you know how the elements are combined you are reasonably secure IMHO.

Take care


Matt

 

[Andviv]

SemperFiDownUnda, the reason for it is that we are being paid to customize an application for an IT consulting firm for an specific customer, but we have some reason to believe that this company is thinking in get our application and resell it to other customers as well, so we need to be sure that they can not do so.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

 

[chiph]

but we have some reason to believe that this company is thinking in get our application and resell it to other customers as well, so we need to be sure that they can not do so.

Don't the usual Intellectual Property rules apply? If your contract with them states that it is not for resale, you can take them to court.

Chip H.

 

[TheTuna]

Anybody ever heard of PARSE?

Polymorphic Actively-Randomized Symbolic Encryption...

Text gets encrypted but never encrypts the same way twice... and there are 'layers' of encryption to boot. Sure, one layer might get broken, when it does, it looks like more garbage. This prevents brute force 'attacks' from recognizing there was a successful penetration.

The only drawback to it so far is that it's a storage hog and just a bit slow. Not that speed matters.

ie. the word ENCRYPTION turns into a massive string when encrypted. 3 to 4 times the length.

Tuna - It's fat free until you add the Mayo!

 

[ffc2003]

How can I find the processor ID in a computer?

I don't know, but it seems like I'm not alone because no one else here has been able to answer that question yet either.

The situation is like this, we have a software with a very restrictive licensing mode and it is suppouse to run only in "that" specific machine. My boss want to find the processor id and "lock" the system to only work with that processor, forcing the client to come back to us if they want to install it again in other machine.

So what you really want is to be a player in the anti-piracy game. Your boss has cooked up some hairbrained ideas and he wants you to implement them. Going up against the pirates is not simple nor does it have a solution. So far only the best have had partial success. Entire industries exist to battle the pirates, so it seems naive to think that you and your boss will take them on and win.

What alternatives do I have?

You could try to use some of the suggestions listed by the other commenters here in this forum.

You could contract the protection out to people that do it for a living.

You could do as little as you can that would still satisfy your boss, knowing most of your efforts would be futile, and forget about actually trying to protect your software.

You could give away slightly crippled (Limited Edition) versions of your software to all possible customers that might want to buy it from your not-so-trustwothy clients. This solution amounts to free advertising, too.

You could get a new job (thus a new boss).

 

[Schweiger]

Somewhere on the net there was some code like this:

Private Function GetProcessorIDs() As Collection
    Dim colIDs As New Collection
    Dim objWMIService, colItems, objItem
    
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_Processor", , 48)
    
    For Each objItem In colItems
      colIDs.Add CStr(objItem.ProcessorID)
    Next objItem
    
    Set GetProcessorIDs = colIDs
    Set colItems = Nothing
    Set objWMIService = Nothing
End Function

But how shall I know if this is really the ProcessorID?

smiling Schweiger

 

[chiph]

Schweiger -

This would indeed be the CPU ID. But if I've turned off the feature in my machines BIOS (and I have!) you'll get an empty result set.

Obviously Andviv could require the users to turn that feature on before it'll install, but that's not a very friendly thing to do. But he may not care at this point.

Chip H.