IonCube Technology and How Encoding Technology Can Secure Your Web Code

What is IonCube?

Quite simply IonCube is a software product packaged and sold by IonCube, a company based in the United Kingdom.  The software is specifically designed to protect software or scripts written using the PHP programming language from being altered in any way.  This means they cannot be viewed, changed, or run on unlicensed computers. 

Before establishing IonCube, Nick Lindridge designed and developed ultra high performance order routing and exchange connectivity technology for one of the UK’s leading market making firms that was later acquired by one of the major US financial institutions as a direct result of his involvement. 

With more than 15 years experience in software development, operating systems, languages and compilers, database engine technology, and PhD research into innovative microprocessor design and system architecture for high performance object-oriented parallel-processing hardware, IonCube was formed and released in 2002.  It has since become the industry standard solution for encoding software.  It is used in over 70 countries around the world to encode PHP and protect software development, business information, and sensitive company data. 

How does it work?

PHP scripts are uploaded and an encoded version downloaded in return.  If you’re using a Linux operating system then a command line tool is used. 

Benefits of IonCube

Quite often hackers can pirate programs and use them for nefarious purposes or worse, distribute your program to the world.  The encoding IonCube provides protects you from hackers stealing your software and it cloaks it so that they can’t even see it. 

Beyond the obvious fact that your code is protected, IonCube is said to run faster than open source PHP on some servers. 

Encoded files run on a variety of operating systems

It allows users to encrypt XML files, Smarty template files, or images.

You can use the software to create license files that restrict access to encoded files

Users have their choice of ASCII or Binary encoded file format.

It allows for the prevention of file tampering by using digital signatures.

It is compatible with Open source extensions

It allows users to designate files to expire on a given date or after a time period

You can also restrict files from being run on any combination of IP addresses and/or server names or to run on specific MAC addresses.

IonCube is available for several operating systems including, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and OS X.

An initial 12 months of support and product upgrades are included for FREE,

Product levels that range from entry level to Cerebus.

IonCube offers speedy encoding performance

Offers an easy to use Graphic User Interface, GUI, which makes using the product simple and straightforward for almost anyone.

Forum that enables you to connect with users and speak with moderators to have your questions and concerns addressed.  http://forum.ioncube.com/

Membership services including information about upgrades, new products, and support.

Obfuscating HTML Encoder enables you to create a script to encode your website HTML so people cannot see your code.  It also makes it impossible to copy your text or pictures, which means you won’t find your copy pasted into an article or sales page on someone else’s website. 

The software is extremely secure and developers use several techniques to ensure that it is the most secure solution available.  The techniques include: encoding compiled binary code rather than plain text source, using a secure execution engine at runtime, and implementing protection against reverse engineering into our products themselves.

Encoded files cannot be restored to their original source, which means that hackers simply cannot decode them – there is no source code to decode.

Excellent customer support.  IonCube has a reputation in the industry of offering top notch customer service to their customers.   

Other Products IonCube Offers

IonCube Online Encoder.  This simple service enables you to encode a single file and can cost as little as .50.  It is an extremely cost effective way to use the product and it give you the opportunity to explore the software without committing to the full product.

They also offer a Standalone Encoder for those that don’t want to purchase the full software package.  This package comes with everything we’ve discussed in the article and cost $199

The IonCube Package Foundry offers users the ability to create remote web application installations.  They also offer a free trial of this product so you can see if it is right for you.  Like the encoder it offers the GUI interface.

Obfuscating HTML Encoder enables you to create a script to encode your website HTML so people cannot see your code.  It also makes it impossible to copy your text or pictures protecting you from copyright infringement!

How do you decide what, if any of the IonCube Products are right for you?

The solution is quite easy.  Visit the website and download an evaluation or a free trial version of the software.  The reputation of IonCube is stellar in the industry and they’ve partnered with several strategic partners including HP and Asial.  Additionally, you can visit their forum and ask questions, read comments, and seek answers to your problems.  If you are on the fence, visit the website from time to time and see if they are offering any specials.  Occasionally, you’ll find license discounts, bundle discounts, or special offers, which can be ideal for a business on a budget.

Note: MemberSpeed Membership Site Software uses IonCube Encrypted Technology on all its software.

Practical Uses of PHP

It almost goes without saying that you will want your business website to be compelling, interactive, and secure.  All of these characteristics will make your website more effective at bringing in and keeping customers.  But how to go about it in a way that is stable, cost-effective, and easy to manage?  One popular solution is to use the server-side scripting language PHP to help you solve those problems.

What is PHP?

Created in 1995, PHP originally stood for “Personal Home Page”, however it is now generally understood to mean “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”.  It was originally designed to create dynamic or more interactive web pages.  It is a widely-used, open-source, general-purpose scripting language.  PHP is a “high-level” language, meaning that it’s generally more human-friendly (and easier to learn) than other programming languages such as C, ASP or ASP.net.

PHP was originally designed for use in Web site development, but rapidly grew to become a much more robust language.  PHP’s primary use is as an “embedded” scripting language, which means that the actual PHP code is embedded in HTML code.  When used in this way, PHP enables your web server to process web pages before they’re displayed in the user’s web browser.
Benefits of PHP

PHP is popular because it can be embedded directly into HTML coding. 

PHP can be used on all major operating systems and is supported on most web servers. 

PHP’s main focus is development for the web, so it has a quick development time and can solve scenarios much quicker than some of the other web design languages. 

The latest version of PHP is a very stable and mature language used for web programming much like Java and Microsoft C#.

It is open source so it is free! 

Database: It is very easy to write simple scripts which allow your Web site to interact with a database.

Cross-Platform: Both the PHP engine and the PHP code can be used on almost any platform, making it extremely versatile.

Development Tools: You only need a text editor to work on PHP; you do not need any development environment or compilers.

What can you do with PHP?

PHP generally runs on a web server, taking PHP code as its input and creating Web pages as output, however you can also use it for command-line scripting and client-side GUI applications.   PHP is an extremely versatile language which enables you to create high-end, stable Web sites with plenty of bells and whistles. Here are just a few of the things you can do with PHP:

Make HTML Web Forms

Store Information in Databases

Remember Web site visitors (cookies and sessions)

Work with Arrays

Work with Files (File Management and downloads)

Parsing and Generating XML (also useful for large quantities of products on e-commerce)

Check which browser your visitor is using

How does PHP Work?

As its name (“PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”) suggests, PHP derives its power by “preprocessing” hypertext on the server side.  This generally means that when the PHP script (saved as a .php file) runs on your web server, it performs the programmed actions, and returns HTML code that will then be sent back to your customer’s web browser.  The PHP script itself is not included in the HTML that is sent to the browser, so the PHP code is invisible and secure to the user.

For example, let’s consider the following simple PHP statement.  (This example is merely to show the basic syntax of PHP in action.  Any detailed discussion of PHP code is beyond the scope of this article.)

<?php echo “<p>Hello World”; ?>

In this statement, <?php is the PHP opening tag, ?> is the closing tag, and echo is a PHP instruction that tells PHP to output the text that follows it as plain HTML code. The PHP software processes the PHP statement and outputs the following:

<p>Hello World 

This is a regular HTML statement that is delivered to the user’s browser. The PHP statement itself is not delivered to the browser, so the user never sees any PHP statements.

Using PHP to Improve Your Website

PHP has many capabilities features designed specifically for use in Web sites, including the following:

1. Securing Your Website

PHP can be used to secure your website (or certain areas of your website) so that your customer must enter a valid username and password.  This can be used to reward preferred customers and to build an exclusive “membership” component of your business.

2. Working with Web Forms

PHP can display an HTML form and process the information that the user types in.  This can be an excellent way to learn more about your customers by asking them to provide profile information, and to collect information about their specific interests.

3. Communicate with Your Databases

PHP is particularly adept at interacting with your databases, and storing information from the user or retrieving information that is displayed to the user.  PHP handles connecting to the database and communicating with it, so it’s not necessary to know all of the technical details for connecting to or exchanging messages with the database. You tell PHP the name of the database and where it is, and PHP handles the details. All major databases are currently supported by PHP.

4. Customer Loyalty Functions

You can also use PHP to create a number of different functionalities on your website that will further help you to build customer loyalty, including interactive polls, a guestbook, and a message board.

The popularity of PHP continues to grow rapidly because it has many advantages over other technical solutions.  PHP is fast (because it’s embedded in the HTML code, the time to process and load a Web page is relatively short), PHP is free (it is open-source software), and PHP is versatile (is runs on a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and most Unix variants).

Perhaps most importantly, PHP is a very well-established language.  There are many user-run Internet communities that make very large amounts of information (and scripts) available.  With so much experience behind it, using PHP for certain dynamic features can be a cost-effective and low-hassle way of increasing the stability of your website.