Usage Control Based on Windows Kernel Hook

Digital rights management systems (DRMS) are supposed to protect copyrights of the precious content for content provider. Besides access control, usage control focuses on how consumers use the digital works and prevents their content from being copied and distributed illegally. This paper introduces a technique called Windows Kernel Hook (WKH) to carry out the goal and protect the digital content from being replicated and stored. Windows Kernel Hook(WKH) has been implemented in C++ through hooking the system service dispatch table (SSDT) and adopted to Adobe Reader. The result indicates that this technique has the capabilities to solve the problem and potentials to contribute to a compatible DRMS on Windows NTs.