Joint effort with the Internet Crimes Group yields tools to make software that is harder to crack as well as the ability to track who is illegally publishing proprietary code Antipiracy tools vendor V.I. Laboratories has joined forces with ICG (Internet Crimes Group) to offer software developers and enterprise IT shops a way to keep track of criminals who are illegally publishing their software.Using a service that integrates ICG’s offering into V.I.’s CodeArmor, software developers will be able to make their code harder for pirates to crack.ICG’s speciality is penetrating the underground sources of pirated software and media and reporting back to corporate clients. V.I. sells development tools used to write code that is harder to reverse engineer. Together the two companies will give developers real-world data to help them learn the best ways to make their software uncrackable, something that ICG President Jeffrey Bedser calls “preventative analysis.” “When you’re working in conjunction like this there’s a lot of synergy,” Bedser said. “It gives the client the ability to have [historical data] on who has previously targeted this software, what techniques they’ve used, and how they did it before.”The integrated service, called Piracy Intelligence and Reporting, is most useful to software vendors looking to cut down on unauthorized copying and distribution of their products, but it could also be used by enterprises looking to track and secure proprietary applications, Bedser said.Software piracy is big business. According to research firm IDC, about one third of all software installed on PCs is illegal. The cost of all this piracy? In 2005, it amounted to $34 billion, IDC estimates. V.I. has already started selling Piracy Intelligence and Reporting, but it will be publicly unveiled on Tuesday. An initial audit costs $12,000. After that, customers pay between $1,000 and $5,000 per month for ongoing reports, depending on the number of applications being tracked. Software DevelopmentSecurity