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From what I understand about .NET code, it is first compiled to Microsoft Common Intermediate Language (MSIL) before being translated to machine code at runtime.
Whereas C++ code is compiled directly to machine code.
So reverse engineering .NET DLLs is a lot easier than reverse engineering C++ DLL because of the rich metadata that MSIL has. However, if I obfuscate my .NET code with the best possible .NET obfuscation tools, can I get the kind of decompilation protection that C++ DLLs offer? Why?
C++ code is most likely translated to assembly and then translated to machine code
.net code is compiled to Bytecode which is executed in a virtual environment
Wikipedia provides a good overview of current .net obfuscators and the techniques they apply: Wikipedia: List of obfuscators for .NET All of these techniques offer a huge increase in secrecy, but can not hope to reach the security offered by packed / obfuscated binaries (see recent malware packing / obfuscation)
On the other hand, 'standard' C++ libraries are not obfuscated, i.e. they don't have a decompilation protection. Most problems emerging while reverse engineering them originate from compiler optimization techniques.
.Net binaries contains semantic information. Machine code has no concept for 'strings' or variable types other than x-byte-sized fields. That being said, the obfuscation offered by the frameworks on the wikipedia page should be more than sufficient for most scenarios.
