Electronic Software Distribution

On demand license codes.

Link has improved its developer support platform for obtaining WebCops license keys on demand. A well-functioning web shop is often important to large software publishers. For digital contents the products can be downloaded, which is known as ESD (Electronic Software Distribution). Security is a part of this, it is vital that purchased and downloaded items are resticted from being copied and redistributed, or even resold.

WebCops eshop security.

Pioneers

Being pioneers in securing electronic distribution, we have suppplied solutions even before the internet was in use (our DialCops product). License keys on demand were first made for the the 2002 HyperBowl game distributed in a free basic version with the "PLUS! for Windows XP" box. Here HyperBowl's web server connected through a server-to-server backdoor connection to our WebCops verification server, requesting each time a number of license keys of a certain specification.

Improved solution

We have refreshed this concept and added modern protocol encryption plus IP locking to make the backdoor connection as safe as possible. Notice that this gives much higher security than using the HTTPS SSL/TLS protocol that has many weaknesses. The benefits of using license keys on demand are that each license key can have a number of parameters assigned: expiry date, number of users and many others. Having preconfigured license keys in stock in the publisher's web shop would mean a large overkill since it is impossible to predict which options users will purchase.

Secure Download gives many advantages over physical distribution:

- lower distribution costs
- products globally available
- fast delivery for users
- always up-to-date versions (print on demand)
- user preference feedback

Download setup

The BUYING PROCESS consists of:

- Product Display and selection,
- ordering,
- payment,
- download (distribution of software and License key).

It is desirable that all this can be handled by the publisher, maybe in connection with a 3rd party payment provider. It is optimal if the license key can be obtained on demand via a server-to-server connection.

The USAGE PROCESS consists of:

- online authentication

This is handled by Link for maximum security and publisher convenience.