Detecting pirated applications

A method includes receiving a plurality of trusted assets, generating a first signature set for a known software application, and generating a second signature set for a subject software application. Each trusted asset is associated with at least a threshold number of trusted authors. Each signature in the first signature set corresponds to a known asset that is associated with the known software application. Each signature in the second signature set corresponds to a subject asset that is associated with the subject software application. The method further includes generating first and second filtered signature set based on the first and second signature sets, respectively, by excluding signatures corresponding to the trusted assets. The method also includes generating a similarity rating for the subject application based on a comparison of the first filtered signature set and the second filtered signature set.