title: .NET obfuscation and intellectual property
abstract: The author considers obfuscation options for protecting .NET code. Many programs won't need obfuscation because the loss caused by reverse engineering will be nonexistent. Numerous obfuscators are already available for the .NET platform, ranging from a basic renaming obfuscator to a fully functional obfuscator that handles mixed IL/native code assemblies created in any managed language, including Microsoft's C++ with Managed Extensions. An obfuscator simply makes your application harder to reverse engineer. It does not prevent reverse engineering. However, the cost of obfuscation is insignificant when compared to the cost of a typical software development project. If you feel like an obfuscator provides you any benefit at all, it's probably worth the price
keyphrases: .NET obfuscation intellectual property reverse engineering