Software watermarking for anti-tamper protection

A method that protects a software program from tampering, rehosting, and piracy, comprising the steps of:

• creating a watermarked software program derived from the software program that comprises a fingerprint of a system on which it is to run and its clock, loadable executables that each contain an embedded encryption/decryption algorithm, and an execution instance;
• providing a secure ID device containing a clock that updates initialization code used by the watermarked software program;
• providing a storage medium containing the watermarked software program from which it is loaded into executable memory of a system on which it runs;
• loading the watermarked software program from the storage medium into the executable memory of the system and onto a storage device of the system;
• initializing the watermarked software program using predetermined initialization parameters and the initialization code from the secure ID device to provide a set of encryption keys for each executable of the watermarked software program;
• and
• executing the watermarked software program by:
• executing an executable in a first software module of the watermarked software program, which executable comprises the embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and a first encryption key;
• performing an integrity check prior to communicating with a second software module;
• encrypting data to be communicated to the second software module using the embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and the first encryption key;
• transmitting the encrypted data from the first software module to the second software module;
• and
• decrypting the encrypted data at the second software module using an embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and a corresponding second encryption key.

Software that protects a software program from tampering, rehosting, and piracy, comprising:

• code segments comprising a watermarked software program derived from the software program that comprise a fingerprint of a system on which it is to run and its clock, loadable executables that each contain an embedded encryption/decryption algorithm, and an execution instance;
• a code segment that executes an executable in a first software module of the watermarked software program, which executable comprises the embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and a first encryption key;
• a code segment that performs an integrity check prior to communicating with a second software module;
• a code segment that encrypts data to be communicated to the second software module using the embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and the first encryption key;
• a code segment that transmits the encrypted data from the first software module to the second software module;
• and
• a code segment that decrypts the encrypted data at the second software module using an embedded encryption/decryption algorithm and a corresponding second encryption key.