Controlling who can run an executable

[Paul Rubin]

"Cigar" <chrisgarland67 at hotmail.com> writes:
> I think the BIGGEST threat here is a feeling of vulnerablity.  She now
> realizes that she is in a position that her competition was many years
> ago when she came into possesion of program the 'other side' was using
> and that she is now vulnerable.  She wants to feel safe in the
> knowledge that she didn't reach into her pocket and pay thousands of
> dollars for a program that now could now be used by her competition.
> Nobody wants to pay money to level the playing field for all in a
> business environment.

Suppose that competitor's program that her employee had illicitly
brought her wasn't protected, so she was able to run it.  You might
ask her whether, ethical issues aside, she would be willing to use it
on a daily basis, given it sounds like people in her industry know
each other enough that word would probably get back to the competitor,
and any resulting lawsuit would leave her up a creek.  If she's not
willing to use her competitor's program under those cirumstances,
should she really be afraid of her competitor using hers?  Also, if
all she got from the competitor was an .exe, she'd have no way to
customize it, and vice versa.

> It's just a collection of names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays
> and drivers licences/health cards.  I can think of a few dishonest
> things that could be done with this but her competition has the
> basically the same clients.

Well, that sounds pretty confidential to me, but I'll take your word
for it that the competitors are more interested in the code than the
data.  I do think she's overestimating the threat.

> Not by my standards but it is slowly replacing a paper system.  (Police
> officer shows up and says 'We've just arrested John Smith.  Has he sold
> you anything in the last 90 days.  The client says 'Just a minute' and
> reaches for a set of 4" d-ring binders and turns hundreds of pages
> looking for a Smith name...)  My client is relived that this senario
> will soon disappear.

Is there something there that you can't do with a few spreadsheet macros?

> > What is the competitor going to do with this code even if they get it?
> Simplify their lives.  See above.

Lawsuits don't simplify anyone's life ;-).

> > Also, is there an office network?  Maybe you could run the program on
> > a server that most employees wouldn't have access to.  They'd use it
> > through some limited client program or through a web browser.
> 
> A network exists but the client insists on a standalone PC.

How about two PC's connected by a piece of ethernet cable, but no
outside network connection.  The server is a laptop or palmtop locked
in a desk drawer.  A little hole is drilled in the back of the drawer
for the power and network cables.  The network cable is connected to a
PC on top of the desk that the employees actually use, running a web
browser or the like.