Bethesda, MD — July 22, 2008 — Arxan Technologies, a leading provider of application hardening solutions designed to protect software from piracy and tampering, today announced major enhancements to its GuardIT® for Microsoft .NET Framework product that include code protection for client-side web-based Silverlight applications and greater ease of use across a broader range of software development platforms. GuardIT employs dynamic Guard™ protection to harden purely managed applications, as well as mixed mode applications that combine managed and native code.

Companies around the world utilize the Microsoft .NET Framework to produce some of the most innovative software and Web 2.0 applications. However, it's this innovation that puts a bull's-eye on .NET applications, placing them among those most heavily targeted by hackers for reverse engineering using easily accessible decompilers. Arxan's GuardIT for Microsoft .NET Framework provides unparalleled anti-tamper support for C/C++, C#, VB.NET and now for Silverlight applications. Silverlight is the preferred cross-platform, cross-browser .NET plug-in that enables designers and developers to build rich media experiences and rich internet applications for browsers that currently drive many client-side Web 2.0 applications.

According to a recent Gartner report, "The Web 2.0 global ecosystem increases the vulnerability of distributed software and exposes it to piracy and abuse, especially in places known for intellectual property (IP) neglect." Moreover, "In such a world, reliance on external security controls, such as network security and identity and access management, alone is insufficient. Business-critical software should have built-in security features." [Source: "Security Features Should Be Built Into Web 2.0 Applications," John Pescatore, Joseph Feiman, March 5, 2008]

Arxan's GuardIT is the only platform that provides best-of-breed protection for both native and managed .NET code across a wide array of platforms, on both the server and client side. GuardIT for Microsoft .NET Framework goes beyond traditional software code protection by providing customizable and flexible options to leverage Arxan's portfolio of Guards. GuardIT's protection deeply and intricately binds these segments together in mixed-mode assemblies, ensuring durable protection without high performance impact, and without affecting the software development process itself.

GuardIT for Microsoft .NET Framework also provides a user-friendly graphical user interface that drastically reduces the amount of time and effort expended towards creating a sophisticated protection. This capability has been developed as a direct response to customer demand and significantly contributes to the ability to easily deploy durable and seamless code protection.

"It's always a race for hackers to see who can break code protection and reverse engineer an application – whether that is a classic server-side or a Web 2.0 client-side application – as soon as it becomes available to the market. Software-driven businesses need to ensure they can minimize the impact hackers have on their ROI," said Mike Dager, president and CEO, Arxan. "With this in mind and knowing that .NET is often the backbone of today's applications, we've expanded our support for .NET developers to ensure they have access to the best code protection on the market today. Developers need to be one step ahead of the hackers, and with Arxan's GuardIT family of application hardening solutions, we're giving them a fighting chance."

Through an interconnected mesh of small security units called Guards scattered across a compiled binary and then dissolved into the application, GuardIT deeply fortifies the overall software product against piracy, tampering, reverse engineering or other forms of attack. Aside from .NET protection, GuardIT also protects Windows and Linux applications in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.