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Source Code Protection Behind the Scenes


Startup provides encryption solution it claims is non-invasive

By David Rubinstein
October 12, 2007 — 
Sandeep Tiwari doesn't believe people's freedoms have to be compromised in the name of security.

Tiwari is CEO of Zafesoft, a startup focused on source code protection, and according to him, unstructured data such as source code can and must be secured without a complex system. "Security should run in the background, without an interface or a log-in," he said, "or else people just won't use it. It becomes too invasive."

Source code files are routinely copied, e-mailed, pasted and printed, Tiwari said, because developers inside and outside of a business need access. Securing unstructured data so the digital file cannot be compromised, and so the company can maintain its credibility and any competitive edge it derives from the intellectual property, is the challenge.

Tiwari claimed that Zafesoft's namesake product protects the content, in contrast to digital rights management systems that protect the envelope but not its contents. Content monitoring and filtering systems can be beaten, he argued. That’s because "CMF is a fingerprinting system. If I really want to take the file out, and not let the CMF system know, I can replace all the a's with two z's, and [change] all the e's to two exclamation points, so now the CMF system doesn't know the file—none of the fingerprints match—and it lets the file be moved," Tiwari explained. CMF systems, he claimed, are good for accidental loss prevention, where someone might not realize they don't have access to a file, but “if someone has intent to be malicious, [CMF] can't really stop it.”

The Zafesoft solution consists of the Z Central Server, which the company hosts and uses to track "zafe'd" files anywhere they reside, and a Z Opener client that enables access to files in the system and performs encryption, Tiwari said. Companies can also use the Z Corporate Server, which works inside the firewall to watch every file in the system.

Zafesoft "keeps track of who opened the file, and what he did with it," Tiwari explained, noting that files are encrypted and decrypted on the fly, and if someone without access tries to open a file, an alert is forwarded from the server.

A company employee with access rights can copy files, e-mail them to outside parties, or download them and work on them at home. However, the instant that person is no longer trusted, all his rights to the system can be removed, and those files become inaccessible to that person, without affecting the rest of the team. Tiwari said Zafesoft licenses a third-party tool to perform the encryption and decryption functions. "Content remains encrypted, even when it's copied or put on a clipboard,” Tiwari explained.

The early release of Zafesoft, which came out in mid-September, can be used to secure Windows source code. The next release, due out in early October, will work with Linux.


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