[android-developers] Re: Reverse Engineering .APK files

Even if the application is reverse engineered and say an cracker gets
100% of your code. Still, what is use? it is your app that is first in
android market in case of android market apps. If someone makes a
clone, it is still a 'clone' and you are the original. We are using
Java and hence risk of code stealing would always be there for us. May
developing in C may help, but again it has its own complications.

Cheers
--
anil
Android Application Developer

On Dec 6, 2:23 pm, Kristopher Micinski <krismicin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 2:18 PM, RLScott <fixthatpi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > On Dec 6, 11:28 am, a1 <arco...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > ..it's really easy to crack any licencing
> > > solution even if code is obfuscated.
>
> > That depends on how interwoven the licensing is with the application.
> > I plan on making the effort needed to crack the licensing comparable
> > to the effort needed to understand the workings of the app itself.
>
> > But what is the value of an obfuscator?  If the source code names have
> > been stripped out of the byte code (except for the system calls, of
> > course, which need external linkage) then any variables or methods
> > that I use for licensing will appear just like all the other variables
> > and methods in my app.  Their use can only be inferred by their
> > association with suspected licensing system calls, like calls to get
> > the Android_ID or wi-fi MAC address.  And these associations can be
> > made as distant as you like, limited only by the complexity you are
> > willing to tolerate in your licensing code and the extent to which you
> > are willing to let that code be interwoven with normal application
> > code.
>
> You can make them distant, but you can still (fairly easily) produce a
> control flow graph and do analysis to trace back...
>
> > Besides, if I am distributing outside of the marketplace, what other
> > choice do I have?
>
> None, obfuscation is a continuum, if you obsfucate your app a little, you
> make cut out the chunk of script kiddies that will run your apk through
> baksamli and friends and then try to java code from a dex to class tool and
> decompiler, but you won't ever get people that really want what you have.
>  The flip side is that those people probably won't be all that interested
> in your app, they have better things to hack (this isn't intended as an
> insult to you, it's to your advantage!)
>
> kris

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Android Developers" group.
To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
android-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en