- Usb dongle serial numbers#
- Usb dongle mac os x#
- Usb dongle software license#
- Usb dongle software#
- Usb dongle license#
Thus dongles have become secure cryptoprocessors that execute program instructions that may be input to the cryptoprocessor only in encrypted form.
Usb dongle software#
Typical dongles also now contain non-volatile memory - essential parts of the software may actually be stored and executed on the dongle. Modern dongles include built-in strong encryption and use fabrication techniques designed to thwart reverse engineering. For example, a simple implementation might define a function to check for the dongle's presence, returning "true" or "false" accordingly, but the dongle requirement can be easily circumvented by modifying the software to always answer "true". It requires considerable cunning to make this hard to crack. There are potential weaknesses in the implementation of the protocol between the dongle and the copy-controlled software. Common USB flash drives are relatively inexpensive compared to dedicated security dongle devices, but reading and storing data in a flash drive are easy to intercept, alter, and bypass.
Usb dongle license#
A simpler and even less secure option is to use unpartitioned or unallocated storage in the dongle to store license data.
Usb dongle serial numbers#
Not all flash drives are suitable for this use, as not all manufacturers install unique serial numbers into their devices.Īlthough such medium security may deter a casual hacker, the lack of a processor core in the dongle to authenticate data, perform encryption/decryption, and execute inaccessible binary code makes such a passive dongle inappropriate for all but the lowest-priced software. A developer can also use the dongle to store user settings or even a complete "portable" version of the application.
Usb dongle software license#
Some software developers use traditional USB flash drives as software license dongles that contain hardware serial numbers in conjunction with the stored device ID strings, which are generally not easily changed by an end-user.
Usb dongle mac os x#
The Steinberg Key can be purchased separately from its counterpart applications and generally comes bundled with the "Syncrosoft License Control Center" application, which is cross-platform compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows. The dongle used by Steinberg's products is also known as a Steinberg Key. USB dongles are also a big part of Steinberg's audio production and editing systems, such as Cubase, WaveLab, Hypersonic, HALion, and others. An example is the way Kodak licenses Prinergy to customers: When a computer-to-plate output device is sold to a customer, Prinergy's own license cost is provided separately to the customer, and the base price contains little more than the required licenses to output work to the device. This is a form of tightly controlled licensing, which allows the vendor to engage in vendor lock-in and charge more than it would otherwise for the product. In cases such as prepress and printing software, the dongle is encoded with a specific, per-user license key, which enables particular features in the target application. Such copy-protection is more typically used with very expensive packages and vertical market software such as CAD/ CAM software, cellphone flasher/JTAG debugger software, MICROS Systems hospitality and special retail software, digital audio workstation applications, and some translation memory packages. Apart from software protection, dongles can enable functions in electronic devices, such as receiving and processing encoded video streams on television sets.ĭaisy chained parallel port copy protection dongles.Įfforts to introduce dongle copy-protection in the mainstream software market have met stiff resistance from users.
In the absence of these dongles, certain software may run only in a restricted mode, or not at all. In software protection, dongles are two-interface security tokens with transient data flow with a pull communication that reads security data from the dongle. The hardware key is programmed with a product key or other cryptographic protection mechanism and functions via an electrical connector to an external bus of the computer or appliance. When connected to a computer or other electronics, they unlock software functionality or decode content.
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