Our most advanced PHP Encoder to date!
This month we’re pleased to have released version 8.1 of our PHP Encoder software, with improvements to the GUI and additional security enhancements.
With the Windows GUI, we have changed the user experience at the startup, replacing the default and rather empty project view of previous versions. The new startup view helps you keep up to date by showing the latest related product news and links to any new tutorials, plus convenience links for creating and opening projects.
When working with customers, we’ve learnt that the most optimal choice of security settings are not always made, which led us to develop the next new feature; the Security Checklist. Accessible from the menus and by clicking a new always visible Security Gauge in the GUI status bar, the Security Checklist is an in-product guide to selecting the most optimal security settings for a project.
To help keep up to date, the GUI can now check for product updates, and alert when new updates are available to the PHP Encoder and Loaders. Updates will often have new security features, and the product is also aware when new security features are available, with the new Security Checklist changing when the product does not have the latest features.
Security changes in this release include the addition of enhanced bytecode obfuscation. Unlike source obfuscation found in simple tools that only hide source code, obfuscation with the ionCube PHP Encoder operates on the compiled code produced from the compilation phase of encoding. Even though code is compiled with no source code in the encoded files, the names of items such as variables and functions must be retained to support PHP‘s dynamic lookup features. ionCube obfuscation performs a one-way transformation of such names, and is extended in this release to obfuscate class names and methods. The ability to exclude specific items from being obfuscated, which is necessary when calling encoded code from non-encoded code, is also enhanced.
Customer support status is now quick and easy to check from within the product, with a new indicator showing the current status in the status bar, and highlighting when support is due to expire. With our products being reliable and easy to use, adding support beyond the year of free starter support may not be required, but for customers needing the piece of mind and benefits that comes from our standard and new premium support plans, this indicator helps ensure that support cover is always maintained.
This covers the main features in our new release, with more detail in the Release Notes and other minor product and documentation changes as part of our continuous product improvement process. Version 8.1.1 with some more minor revisions is in the pipeline now too, and will also be released soon. Stay tuned!
