Gartner sees the application hardening market emerging over the next two years. Arxan believes its Guard technology brings the future closer to today.
From the software heights of Microsoft on down to the dedicated solo developer, anyone who creates a desktop software application and puts it out for distribution runs the risk of the software being cracked and redistributed in a variety of ways.
While a truly bulletproof method to secure software likely remains nestled in the same place where William Gibson’s black ice reaches out and touches hackers in a fatal way, intellectual property fortification vendor Arxan told Murdok they can put a lot of obstacles in the way of profiteering pirates and other unsavory types.
Citing Business Software Alliance figures on software piracy that pegged losses for the software industry at $48 billion globally in 2007, Arxan’s CMO Amena Ali noted how high-end software sells on the streets of some emerging markets for $10 or less in press-and-sell schemes.
Without a bulletproof solution, any method that can keep a software application inviolate against attacks for as long as possible represents a window of profitability and ROI for the developer. Arxan does this protection at the binary level, using a variety of techniques to frustrate would-be reverse engineers at their game.
By widening the window where only legitimate sales have traction in the marketplace, Ali noted how this raises the stakes for hackers. With luck, they could abandon a target in favor of a different package. It’s a similar metaphor for homes with alarm system signs out front; they aren’t impenetrable, but the risk may outweigh the reward to the point where the criminal seeks a different victim.
Arxan occupies part of an emerging space in the software industry. Continued demand for digital content coupled with desires to protect it should expand the app hardening space beyond desktop software.
Gartner believes the space for hardening applications at the binary level will develop over the next two years. Given a level of piracy that sees a dollar obtained illegally for every two dollars of software purchased properly, this looks like a market that will expand much faster, depending on how well the cost benefits of using an Arxan look for potential clients.
