iLok Cloud is a 'virtual iLok' that can be used with any license type (trials, perpetuals, NFRs, subscriptions) and a continual internet connection. Once your customers launch a Mac or Windows application, a Cloud session will open and that's it!
iLok Cloud-enabled licenses are convenient and flexible for the end user AND it protects your intellectual property when used in conjunction with our unique binary-hardening technology.
The iLok Cloud can be thought of in two parts. First, the ‘Cloud Session’ is an open channel from the end user’s computer to our licensing activation server. The second part is the license check itself. When protected software runs, it encounters a request for a valid license - this is the license check.
When a license is activated from a user’s iLok account to the iLok Cloud, we open a secure, highly encrypted line of communication to our license activation server. This ultra-secure communication line is referred to as a ‘Cloud Session’. The only data that passes in this open channel is directly related to the license check. If the protected software is dormant or not running, the channel remains open, but no information is being passed. Licensing data is transported through the Cloud Session only when required.
While your protected software is running, it will require a license check to continue. Rather than getting the confirmation of the license locally from the computer or iLok hardware, confirmation comes from the Cloud Session. The activation server sends license checks that allow the software to run in short time increments.
One way to think of the open cloud session is like an app on your mobile phone. The app does not require you to sign in every time, in fact it rarely asks for a sign in. The iLok Cloud is similar in that the Cloud Session will remain open until explicitly closed.
There is no need to close a Cloud Session, but it is easy to do with the iLok License Manager. Some users will want to close their Cloud Sessions to be able to move an activation to a physical device or computer. If a Cloud Session is open on a computer in a different location, simply signing into your iLok account on the computer will allow you to move the session to the current computer and close the previous session.
From the license side, the iLok Cloud is convenient and robust. Licenses activated to the iLok Cloud are as secure as our popular, market-tested iLok USB. Our cloud-based software license also removes the risk of lost or damaged iLok USB and computers. You can rest assured that the licenses activated to the iLok Cloud will not be cloned, hacked, or tampered with.
From the software side, your code can be protected with either the PACE Wrapper or with binary-hardening technology called PACE Fusion with Dynamic License Checks. If you have opted for the PACE Wrapper option as a publisher, we have optimized our technology to require a simple, encrypted license check periodically. While no copy protection is unbreakable, our wrapper is very effective for the cost. PACE Fusion is ideal for higher value software that is an attractive target for hacking or corporate espionage.
PACE Fusion is a means by which portions of your source code are uniquely obfuscated and the binary is tied, or ‘fused’, to Eden’s licensing platform, and iLok Cloud’s periodic license calls, in a highly obscured manner and on a per-product basis. Not only is the resultant product incredibly hard to attack, the protection’s per-product nature means that a successful attack against one binary does not yield useful information for attacking another. Fusion is best-of-class copy protection.
A benefit of the PACE Licensing Platform is the activation experience. We give publishers the tools to distribute licenses securely and offer their end-users different ways to access their licenses. Publishers can work with our advanced tools to customize and build the full activation experience into their own in-app store or UI experience. The publisher controls the entire user experience while benefiting from best-in-class security and license management.
If you would like more information on PACE protection and licensing, or iLok Cloud, visit the PACE Contact Us Page.
