CrypKey 5.4 and the Power of (Self-) delusion. CrypKey's Site Key Generator (SKW) defines two 16-bit data fields that form a part of the Site Key. These fields go under the names 'Level' and 'Options' (see also next heading), but these are merely a convenient way of subdividing a 32-bit user data area. 3) Copy the files (ckInfo.exe & CrypKey Site Key Generator. To modify the Site Key Generator so that it'll make keys for the application you want a license for.

CrypKey 5.4 and the Power of (Self-) delusion. CrypKey 5.4 and the Power of (Self-) delusion 'Take a cool glass of your favourite drink, sit back, and read this superb essay very slowly, take delight as exefoliator walks you through the CrypKey codewoods from start to finish, even lending time to fix the developers bugs (are you listening CrypKey developers?;-) ). This is exactly the kind of reverse engineering paper I want to publish in 2003, if you use the information here I think exefoliator certainly deserves some credits. Enough from me, let's watch the show, I warn you though, it won't be pretty if you are using CrypKey as protection right now;-)'. 'Essay not edited very much by CrackZ and sorry exefoliator for the publishing delay;P'. By, August 2002.

Download (66k). Abstract CrypKey is a software protection and licensing suite that is apparently in fairly widespread use. Its purveyors claim that it is a superior product.

This article evaluates this claim by examining what CrypKey does and, more importantly, how it does it. These investigations cast serious doubt on the strength and integrity of the security that CrypKey uses for protecting licence information. The structure, cryptography and meaning of the Site Code/Site Key pairs is examined in detail, as are those of the licence files.

The information contained herein is sufficient to enable the preparation of a generic CrypKey Site Key generator, and includes some pseudo-code routines that clarify the operation of the required functions. In the broader context, the ruminations in this article lend much weight to the thinking that off-the-shelf software protection solutions invariably are poor ones and not worth the expense. Introduction Kenonic Controls Ltd. Produce and supply a software protection and licence control system called 'CrypKey'. A visit to their would seek to convince you that CrypKey is 'battle-proven and the #1 Security Solution' and that you should 'Build your Defense using only the Best'. Tamil serial song download. As will shortly become clear, this is over-hyped tripe of the purest strain.

If CrypKey is the best on offer, then the product you wish to protect with it is already in deep trouble. By my nature, I am anti-authoritarian and inquisitive, so when someone pretends to have a handle on something meaningful by making flashy claims, I take an interest, perhaps to the extent of being pathological, in finding out just how valid those assertions really are. CrypKey turned up as a software protection option during a web search for such stuff, although I had unwittingly encountered it previously in a web resource downloader program called 'PaqRat'. After reading CrypKey's info, I was moved to find out more about this product and downloaded the demo kit, which allows a 30-day evaluation period and consists of the protection program 'CrypKey Instant 5.4' - henceforth 'CKI' - and 'CrypKey Site Key Generator 5.4 (Master)' - henceforth 'SKW'. After poking around the innards of both programs, I came to the conclusion that the lads at Kenonic are either unscrupulous for attempting to rip off (look at their prices!) or mislead (potential) customers, in which case they shouldn't be in the business of software security, or in desperate need of a long overdue reality-fix, in which case they shouldn't be in the business of software security.

In either case, delusion seems to be their chief stock-in-trade, hence the title of this article. CrypKey probably got its name from the fact that it uses cryptographic routines to protect licence information.

I suspect that it may have its roots in some archaic UNIX software because at the interface level of the protection module(s), function arguments are often ASCIIz strings (usually of hexadecimal digits), even when the data the function ultimately operates on are the binary translation of the string. Also, these 'byte' strings in several cases contain big endian fields, contrary to the x86 processor's native format. This pair of facts alone should set the 'dodgy implementation' flag bit. In essence, CrypKey's security and protection rests on two aspects. The first of these is its use of the hard disk as a playground in which to hide things from the rest of the world. The first part of this article provides a fairly comprehensive discussion of the reasons for, as well as the nature of this hard disk usage.