Dotfuscator provides application self-protection and obfuscation for any type of .NET app through a combination of binary obfuscation/hardening, detection, defense and alert controls. A lite version (Dotfuscator CE) is included inside Visual Studio.
Dotfuscator, also known as PreEmptive Protection, is a .NET Obfuscator and Application Self Protection Tool. Microsoft ships PreEmptive’s Dotfuscator Community Edition to provide .NET Obfuscation inside Visual Studio, but there is also a Professional Edition with much stronger protection that is widely used. The differences can be found here.
Dotfuscator’s purpose is to provide comprehensive .NET application protection that fits into your security development lifecycle. It works with all flavors of .NET including ASP.NET, Xamarin, Unity and UWP apps helping organizations secure their trade secrets (IP), reduce piracy/counterfeiting and prevent tampering of their applications and hindering data breaches. Dotfuscator works on compiled assemblies without the need for additional programming or even access to source code.
A few examples of .NET Obfuscation and Application Protection features included in Dotfuscator are:
Dotfuscator implements various .NET Obfuscation and Application Protection techniques that complement each other to create a layered defense making reverse engineering, tampering, unauthorized debugging much more difficult.
Some examples include:
- Rename Obfuscation
- String Encryption
- Control Flow Obfuscation
- Unused Code and Metadata Removal
- Binary Linking/Merging
- Dummy Code Insertion
- Instruction Pattern Transformation
- Opaque Predicate Insertion
- Anti-Tamper Wrapping
- Anti-Debug Wrapping
- Application Expiration
- Watermarking
- Security Alerts
- Custom Response to Tamper or Debugging
There is also a Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) build extension for Dotfuscator Community Edition (CE), available in the VSTS Marketplace. PreEmptive Protection - Dotfuscator CE is embedded into Visual Studio 2003-2017+ and subject to Microsoft’s regression tests, code audits and security reviews. It is the only 3rd party technology to have this level of integration and validation.
