Protection and obfuscation with SecureTeam and Agile.NET questions

[neoikon]

I have NT8 (b12) and Agile.net (v6.4.0.1) installed. I am able to successfuly export an indicator using the "Export as compiled assembly" and "Protect compiled assembly" options.

Before I send my code out into the world, I want to make sure I'm as protected as possible.

When I go to SecureTeam's website and click the "Learn More" link under NinjaTrader:

http://secureteam.net/Agile-for-NT-Pricing.aspx

It takes me here:

http://secureteam.net/NET-Obfuscator-Features.aspx

Which implies a lot of stuff (code virtualization, method level code encryption, entity renaming, cross assembly obfuscation, etc).

Are all of these protection methods enabled by default? Is there anything special that needs to be done to the code to enable obfuscation or other protection methods (such as special decorations added before the namespace, etc)? Perhaps something needs to be set in the Agile.NET desktop app? Something enabled in the NT project file?

If something extra needs to be done, that isn't enabled by default when simply installing NT8 and Agile.NET, then perhaps there needs to be better documentation by NinjaTrader, SecureTeam, or both?

If all those options aren't available, then that seems a bit misleading and their "Learn more" link shouldn't go to that page (which implies quite a bit!)

And if those options aren't available, what protection is actually applied?

Any help to make sure I'm as protected as possible is appreciated!

[NinjaTrader_JessicaP]

Hello neoikon, and thank you for your questions.

First, I would like to direct you to the help guide section on using SecureTeam's software to protect your NinjaScript code.

http://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/protection_dll_security.htm?zoom_highlightsub=secureteam

Although the name Agile.Net does not appear on that page, the documentation's instructions are valid.

To answer your specific questions,

Are all of these protection methods enabled by default?

The pricing page, currently here,

http://www.secureteam.net/Ninja-Net-Obfuscator-Pricing.aspx

goes into detail as far as what is offered at different price levels. Details as far as what exactly is covered at the free level are available here,

http://www.secureteam.net/NET-Obfuscator-Features.aspx

Is there anything special that needs to be done to the code to enable obfuscation or other protection methods (such as special decorations added before the namespace, etc)? Perhaps something needs to be set in the Agile.NET desktop app? Something enabled in the NT project file?

No, you will just need to have "Protect compiled assemblies" checked. You will gain the ability to check this rather than going to SecureTeam's website once you have installed their software. Please let us know if this is not the case for you so we may assist further.

Please let us know if there are any other questions we may answer.

[neoikon]

Thank you for the links, but as I mentioned, I already have it installed and working and I've visted those links you shared (I shared them in my original post too).

I'm also referring to NT8 versus NT7.

I do not think it's accurate to say that the features (in the link below) are included with the NT7 nor NT8 versions of Agile.NET (without paying above any beyond the NT rate)... which is my original reason for posting, to find out what exactly IS included and how to enable the individual protection features. Clicking the one checkbox within NT does not turn on all these features:

http://www.secureteam.net/NET-Obfuscator-Features.aspx

Is there someone with more detailed information about this I can speak with? Perhaps I should email NT support? I tried contacting SecureTeam as well and they weren't very helpful.

[NinjaTrader_JessicaP]

My apologies, I did not notice the NinjaTrader 8 Beta section in the breadcrumbs above when replying. If there are any questions you'd prefer to ask via e-mail, we have a dedicated support team at platformsupport[at]ninjatrader[dot]com .

The text on the first link I posted had this to say about the cheapest NT7 level,

Protects NT scripts against code modification or IP theft.

Emphasis mine. The higher price levels refer to protecting code other than NinjaScript code.

While this is free for NT7, for NT8, this product does cost $100 for the same level which only protects NinjaScript assemblies. The NinjaTrader side documentation is here,

http://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/en-us/protection_dll_security.htm?zoom_highlightsub=secureteam

And the SecureTeam comparison is at this publicly available link,

http://secureteam.net/Agile-for-NT-Pricing.aspx

For completion, the other price levels are these, which I received from the same links,

• NT7 $599 / NT8 $599 , Protects Java software against code modification or IP theft.
• NT7 $795 / NT8 $795 , Protects .NET assemblies against code modification or IP theft.
• NT7 $1295 / NT8 $1295 , SecureTeam's Digital Rights Management Solution.

Please let us know if there are any other ways we can help.

[eDanny]

It is too bad the NT team couldn't negotiate a better deal than $100 PER YEAR, which will easily add up to a high fee for a basic protection. I think a higher one time fee (@$199?) would be more attractive, more like the old Protector fee.

[NinjaTrader_Brett]

The settings in use are available in the install directory

c:\Program Files(x86)\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Backup\AgileDotNet.cls.

You can edit that file at your own risk (We don't support that and recommend all defaults).

In the file you can see all the settings we call Agile.Net with.

-Brett

[neoikon]

c:\Program Files (x86)\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Backup\AgileDotNet.cls.

If anyone has any real world experience with modifying these flags, please share! We're always looking for the best way to secure our code! Thanks!