PowerBuilder 11's .NET support may be welcomed by developers looking to expand their horizons and take further advantage of SOA, yet developing in this environment also introduces new threats. Applications developed using the Microsoft .NET platform inherently expose the intellectual property they contain much more than their native compiled counterparts. With .NET, the application code is in an intermediate form that exposes the source code. This means that application threats like tampering to enable piracy, exploits used to gain access to data, and the risk of code theft are higher with .NET code.

While .NET offers an efficient framework for developing and deploying Windows applications, it also uses a common intermediate language containing highly detailed metadata that makes compiled applications easier to reverse-engineer. In fact the IP in .NET applications can be easily accessed using freeware decompilers such as Microsoft ILDASM. Organizations have traditionally applied code obfuscation tools to remove the context of the code, but that doesn't stop someone from decompiling the application and analyzing it while it's running. As organizations deploy their applications outside the perimeter of their firewall and deploy software into high-risk geographies, obfuscation alone isn't enough to deter the risks of reverse engineering.

Identifying Additional Risk Factors
There are numerous other issues that may increase the odds of malfeasance against your code, such as:

• Moving into global markets. While companies understandably want to take advantage of the large revenue opportunities for selling into the Chinese market, the country has experienced aggressive reverse engineering and government-sponsored cyber theft. Moreover, its lack of IP enforcement brings added worries. Software companies need to mitigate their risk when conducting business in China.

Likewise, many companies partner with ISVs or offshore testing and development groups in China, Russia, and India to enable local support and drive down development costs, yet they have little legal recourse if these partners don't protect their software. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' fourth biannual Global Economic Crime Survey, "44% of IP infringement cases worldwide...involved a perpetrator from China." And these odds may increase depending on the type of software involved. For example, the great need for EDA, CAE, and CAD applications in China means developers of these applications are more apt to be the victim of software pirating.