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There are many reasons now
as a web designer, software programmer or website
owner that you may want to start considering the
safety of your HTML or PHP source code. |
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- Email Address theft - Have you
ever wondered how you get SPAM mail even though you've
been super cautious NOT to subscribe to anything,
yet it still comes your way? One of the reasons could
be that you have your EMAIL link on a website. With
email harvesting software available (even for free
trials) anyone can harvest your email address right
off your website automatically.
- Picture Theft - Most average users
are aware that you can right-click pictures on a website
and download them to their own computer. It is common
knowledge for most internet users and webmasters.
- Return URLs - For some credit
card processingcompanies (such as PAYPAL and EGOLD)
it is possible to view thesource of web pages and
look at the return (thanks for purchasing) page, where
you can directly go to the URL, click on the link
to download the software without paying for it
- Website Layout - If a Webmaster
likes your site, they can save out the page (and structure)
and edit it in their own HTML editor software and
claim the design layout for themselves
- PHP Scripts - If you have a clever
script (i.e. written in PHP) and you need to send
it to someone, they could easily have a look at your
PHP script to see how you did it. They can then copy
the code or re-write it slightly and call it their
own Or use it for their own PHP software and scripts.
These are just some of the reasons why you need to
consider encrypting your web pages or source code. Encryption
of web pages and source code is becoming more and more
popular and in the future will become an absolute necessity.
We can now see a huge market (on the web) of HTML encryption
software that enables you to protect your source code
from prying eyes. Although HTML encryption is not 100%
foolproof, it is effectiveenough to keep out MOST users
and acts as a good deterrent, since not everyone has
the time to decipher encrypted HTML source just for
the fun of it.
Fortunately, the technology for PHP Encryption is
foolproof since it works on the server side and cannot
be tampered with. In the market, there are now various
PHP encryptors available (at varying prices) that enable
you to encrypt all of your source code (as well as your
HTML generated output ) so that it is virtually unreadable
to humans, but still functional to computers.
If you are a PHP developer and create your own scripts,
then it is absolutely vital that you make the decision
to encrypt your scripts before distribution. If you
don't, you run the risk of your code being stolen, modified,
emulated or copied. All it takes is one hacker or experienced
programmer to "Learn" from your code, make
a few of their own modifications and bring out their
own "Version" of the software under a different
name. This can cause serious problems as well as the
problem of ruining your own market because you have
contributed towards creating a competitor.
If your script is exclusive or unique then you must
encrypt your code to protect your intellectual property.
It's like creating a secret recipe on how to cook your
favorite food dish, then posting your recipe on the
local supermarket's notice board for everyone to see
(sound silly doesn't it?). If you value your work at
all, then you need to seriously consider protecting
and encrypting it!
About The Author
Vince Edwards is the owner of Codelock.co.nz
the software that protects your intellectual property |
