RE: Security Code

["James H H Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> One of the downfalls about using IBM's LMC that I've heard from a
> colleague is that nothing prevents someone from deleting the "licensed
> program" from the system at the end of the trial period and
> re-installing it to start a new trial period.  He said he's seen this
> with one third-party product with a 30-day trial period.  Is this true?
> If so, it seems that you'd have to hard-code a date in the product and
> generate new object code every day for download.  And, if you're going
> that far, maybe the download page should just require that the system
> serial number be entered so that it can be encoded for each system.
>
> Carl, if you're sharing your technique, but not posting it to the list
> at large, I'd be interested in learning about it.

Actually, even if one has a system that requires one to obtain an
authorization code even for a trial installation, and that has an absolute
expiration date built into the code, there's always the possibility of
defeating such a system by simply racking the system date back, unless
you've provided code to detect such activity (and also
deletion/reinstallation) through the use of what I refer to as the "muddy
pawprint" technique.

--
JHHL