Analysis of Attendance System Licensing

Smart Office is an attendance management Software with quite powerful features, with less security (refer to my LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/analysis-push-data-technology-hamid-kaashif-s-i-haja which talks about security of the application)

In the free version, you can add up to to 200 users and 5 devices for web based version and 500 users and 10 device for desktop based version.

A part of this post is about breaking those limits!

When Web based Software is installed, Activation code will be generated automatically. Through smart office website, you can generate the license key

#1

Activation Code: 0001175158975928405 

License Key: 0001-0050-11001000101-10101-1257935351047160837-538513957

 

Upon installation the software on a different PC, the licensing details are below

#2

Activation Code: 0001170158975048405 

License Key: 0001-0050-11001000101-10101-1256527976154301445-538513957

We can split the license keys into six parts which are separated by hyphens. Upon comparing #1 and #2 license key; All parts are the same, but FIFTH.

I took one step further, installed desktop software (free for 500 users and 10 devices) and generated license

#3a

Activation code: 0011176908643

License Key: 0002-0125-111110100101-101001-18791128925763-538513957

The sixth part is the same for all three licenses.

Note: All three licenses were generated on 25th December 2018. (That’s right, on the day of Christmas)

I generated a license for the same key earlier on 24th December 2018

#3b

Activation code: 0011176908643

License Key: 0002-0125-111110100101-101001-18791128925763-538513956

the 6th part seems to be different [comparing #3a, #3b]. From all the four license keys, we can tell that the 6th part has to do with the date. And note, the numbers are not in sequence. Refer to this excel file for the values generated on particular days. https://1drv.ms/x/s!AqrbvLgshzqvgzoxzmC5gYxn5RQL

5th part has to do with the activation key itself.

The 3rd and 4th looks like binary, whereas others seems to be in integer.

Observation 1:

Consider the #3a, 500 (no of users) in binary – 111110100 | 10 (no of devices) in binary – 1010

The 9bits in 3rd part coincides with 500 in binary

The 4bits in 4th part coincides with 10 in binary.

Observation 2:

Consider the #1, 200 (no of users) in binary – 11001000 | 5 (no of devices) in binary – 101

The 8bits in 3rd part coincides with 200 in binary

The 3bits in 4th part coincides with 5 in binary.

Manipulating the 3rd and 4th part can alter the number of users and Device 🙂

Again, 2nd part depends on the number of Users and 1st part depends on number of Devices. [However; altering the 3rd, 4th part alone seems to do the work].

I used an application to manipulate the number of devices and number of users while filling the web form.

For every 4 users increase, the 2nd part increases by 1.

Users	Devices	Second Part
1	10	0000
2	10	0000
3	10	0000
4	10	0001
5	10	0001
6	10	0001
7	10	0001
8	10	0002
9	10	0002
10	10	0002
11	10	0002
12	10	0003
13	10	0003
100	10	0025
200	10	0050
300	10	0075
1500	10	0375

For every 4 devices increase, the 1st part increases by 1.

Users	Devices	First Part
200	1	0000
200	2	0000
200	3	0000
200	4	0001
200	5	0001
200	6	0001
200	7	0001
200	8	0002
200	9	0002
200	10	0002
200	11	0002
200	12	0003
200	13	0003
200	20	0005
200	25	0006
200	50	0012

 

The analysis ends here. Let me know in the comments section if there’s any queries!

 

Foot Notes:

1. License generator link: http://www.so365.in/elicense/elicense.aspx
2. Smart Office Desktop & Web download link: http://www.smartofficesuite.in/downloads-0
3. Used AutoHot Key to manipulate the web form [no of users and no of devices].