Public protection of software

TLDR

Software producers face widespread unauthorized use and distribution, and weak copyright enforcement leads to major losses, highlighting the need for effective technical protection methods. The paper proposes protocols that protect software while imposing minimal distribution and maintenance overhead. These protocols can be realized using conventional cryptosystems such as DES or public‑key systems like RSA. Both DES‑based and RSA‑based implementations are proven to meet the necessary security requirements.

Abstract

One of the overwhelming problems that software producers must contend with is the unauthorized use and distribution of their products. Copyright laws concerning software are rarely enforced, thereby causing major losses to the software companies. Technical means of protecting software from illegal duplication are required, but the available means are imperfect. We present protocols that enable software protection, without causing substantial overhead in distribution and maintenance. The protocols may be implemented by a conventional cryptosystem, such as the DES, or by a public key cryptosystem, such as the RSA. Both implementations are proved to satisfy required security criteria.