Want to protect .NET code from reverse engineering? Obfuscation is one of the solutions.There are many free dotnet obfuscators available.
This article lists out some best free obfuscator to protect .NET assemblies
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.NET Obfuscators
You put all your effort and time to create an excellent .NET application. But using disassemblers any one can easily generate back full source code of your application from the assemblies/libraries.
Software that is difficult to reverse-engineer is said to be obfuscated application. The ultimate goal is to stop all casual hackers, as well as the most malicious and competent hackers, from attempting to scrutinise and crack the code you built.
So it is important to protect your source code from decompiling. It is mandatory to protect from reverse engineering .NET assemblies.
Obfuscation is a technique to protect your source code assemblies from reverse engineering and further getting modified and distributed by some one else.
It is not very easy to write code yourself for obfuscating your binaries.But the availability of various tools make it easy to obfuscate.
There are various commercial tools available and some free .NET obfuscators are also available for your benefit.
Free .NET Obfuscator Tools
Here see some of the best known free .net obfuscator tools which will satisfy most of your obfuscation requirements for .NET .
Eazfuscator.NET
Eazfuscator.NET is an excellent obfuscator for .NET platform, protects your code, without breaking it.Eazfuscator.NET support .NET Framework versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. Support is there for Silver light, Windows phone 7 applications etc.
Integration supports are provided with visual studio versions 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Obfuscar – The Open Source Obfuscation Tool for .NET Assemblies
Obfuscar is a basic obfuscator for .NET assemblies. It uses massive overloading to rename metadata in .NET assemblies (including the names of methods, properties, events, fields, types and namespaces) to a minimal set, distinguishable in most cases only by signature
SharpObfuscator
SharpObfuscator is an obfuscator tool developed to help developers to obfuscate and protect their .NET code, optimize .NET assembly for better deployment, minimize distribution size, increase performance & add powerful post-deployment debugging capabilities.
Skater .NET Obfuscator Light Edition
Skater .NET Obfuscator Light Edition is a freeware Light Edition of well-known Skater. You can use Skater .NET Obfuscator Light Edition to protect your .NET applications for both personal and commercial purposes.Skater .NET Obfuscator implements all known software protection techniques and obfuscation algorithms.
FxProtect Express Edition
FxProtect. .NET code protection combines and includes method level code encryption, anti-reverse engineering, anti-debugging, anti-tracing, and more to prevent unauthorized access and modification of your assemblies.
But FxProtect Express Edition, which is a free .NET obfuscator, is provided with limited features.
Frequently Asked Question on .NET Obfuscators
What is Obfuscation in C#?
A complete look at a .NET application or library is accessible to anyone with a decompiler/disassembler. You can discover and exploit the security flaws within .NET software, pilfer ideas, and acquire unique licence keys.Also can make pirated copies of your application. Applications need be protected from this security threat.
This obfuscation renders the source code illegible and uninterpretable by anyone. While code obfuscation does not affect the application’s interface for end users or the final product, it does affect the process of writing it, making it more difficult and time-consuming.
How to Protect C# Code from Reverse Engineering?
Split your application into front-end and back-end components. Host the back-end component on your own server and expose it as API.This will make the front end as thin component without crucial business logics.Then the front-end will not worth stealing because it is very thin without major information. Meanwhile, your valuable business logic will be in back-end servers and secured to great extent.
Other option is to obfuscate your C# code. Obfuscation protect your code from decompiling.In this article we have listed some best obfuscators to protect C# code from reverse engineering.Have a read above.
How Effective are Source Code Obfuscators?
Source code obfuscators give protection to an extent. Protection from common attacks like code injection, reverse engineering, and tampering with personal information of customers and application users.
But, obfuscated source code is not suitable for confidential or proprietary source code.To further protect source code beyond what is possible with obfuscation Trusted Computing and other DRM technologies can be thought about.
What are the Best C# Obfuscator?
Few free best C# Obfuscators were listed in this article already. We also can get premium best C# obfuscators.Few of them are,
Summary
We covered few of the free dotnet obfuscators here. Hope you found this article useful to choose the best free obfuscator to protect your .NET assemblies/source code. Provide your feedback in the comment section below.
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