Dongle
Encyclopedia
A software protection dongle is a small piece of hardware
that plugs into an electrical connector
on a computer and serves as an electronic "key
" for a piece of software; the program will only run when the dongle is plugged in. The term "dongle" was originally used to refer only to software-protection dongles; however, currently "dongle" is often used to refer to any small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer. This article is limited in scope to dongles used for the purpose of copy protection
or authentication of software to be used on that system.
Electrically, dongles mostly appear as two-interface security tokens with transient data flow that does not interfere with other dongle functions and a pull communication that reads security data from the dongle. These are used by some proprietary
vendor
s as a form of copy protection
or digital rights management
, because it is generally harder to replicate a dongle than to copy the software it authenticates. Without the dongle, the software may run only in a restricted mode, or not at all. As of July 26, 2010 it is legal in the United States to use programs protected by this method without a dongle, if the dongle is no longer working and a replacement not available.
to use a software protection dongle. Its dongle was a simple passive device that supplied data to the pins of a Commodore PET
's external cassette port in a predetermined manner. This was possible because the PET cassette
port supplied both power and data connections through a proprietary edge connector
. It did, however, make the cassette port unusable for its intended purpose.
The two-cubic-inch (32 cm³) resin-potted first generation device was called a "dongle" by the inventor, in the absence of a suitable term. The distributor, Dataview Ltd., then based in Colchester
, UK, then went on to produce a derivative dongle, which became their core business.
An early example of the term was in 1984, when early production Sinclair QL
s were shipped with part of the QL firmware held on an external 16 KB ROM cartridge (infamously known as the "kludge
" or "dongle"), until the QL was redesigned to increase the internal ROM capacity from 32 to 48 KB.
Dongles rapidly evolved into active devices that contained a serial transceiver (UART
) and even a microprocessor
to handle transactions with the host. Later versions adopted the USB
interface in preference to the serial
or parallel interface. The USB interface is gradually becoming dominant.
A 1992 advertisement for Rainbow Technologies claimed the word dongle was derived from the name "Don Gall". Though untrue, this has given rise to an urban myth.
The Monty Python's Flying Circus
episode It's the arts contains the pseudo-German proper noun fragment dingle- dangle- dongle and it's possible the physical dangling out of the device inspired the consonant name.
Vendors of software-protection dongles (and dongle-controlled software) often use terms
such as "hardware key", "hardware token", or "security device" instead of "dongle", but the term "dongle" is much more common in day-to-day use.
software, such as CAD
/CAM
software, MICROS Systems
hospitality and special retail software, Digital Audio Workstation
applications, and some translation memory
packages. The vast majority of printing
and prepress
software, such as CtP
workflows, require dongles.
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. 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. 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.
USB dongles are also a big part of Steinberg's audio production and editing systems, such as Cubase, Wavelab, Hypersonic, HALion, and others. The dongle used by Steinberg's products is also known as a Steinberg Key. 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.
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. A developer can also use the dongle to store user settings or even a complete "portable" version of the application. Not all flash drives are suitable for this use, as not all manufacturers install unique serial numbers into their devices. Although such medium security may deter a casual hacker, the lack of a processor core in the dongle to authenticate data, do encryption/decryption, and execute inaccessible binary code makes such a passive dongle inappropriate for all but the lowest-priced software. A simpler and even less secure option is to use unpartitioned or unallocated storage in the dongle to store license data. 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.
. 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".
Modern dongles include built-in strong encryption
and use fabrication techniques designed to thwart reverse engineering
. Typical dongles also now contain non-volatile memory — key parts of the software may actually be stored and executed on the dongle. Thus dongles have become secure cryptoprocessor
s that execute inaccessible program instructions that may be input to the cryptoprocessor only in encrypted form. The original secure cryptoprocessor was designed for copy protection of personal computer software (see US Patent 4,168,396, Sept 18, 1979) to provide more security than dongles could then provide. See also bus encryption
.
In counterfeit
versions of a program, the code to check for a dongle is often deleted or circumvented. As a result, the counterfeit version may be easier to use and thus may be preferable to the original.
Hardware cloning, where the dongle is emulated by a device driver, is also a threat to traditional dongles. To thwart this, some dongle vendors adopted smart card product, which is widely used in extremely rigid security requirement environments such as military and banking, in their dongle products.
Dongle drivers bring problems for end-users. Most developers and software vendors want to get rid of the dongle driver headache. There are some driverless dongles on the market, which make the protection easy for both software vendors and end-users. Most of driverless dongles are based-on HID
technology, which is working like a mouse or keyboard.
A more innovative modern dongle is designed with a code porting mechanism, meaning you can transfer part of your important program code or license enforcement into a secure hardware environment (such as in a smart card OS, mentioned above). An ISV
can port thousands of lines of important computer program
code into the dongle.
The real-time dongle contains an internal real-time clock, independent from the Operating system
clock, and designed for software vendors who need to control and manage rental and sale usage and/or maintenance. This allows pay per use by charging the end users timely and periodically for actual periods of use. This function is based on a real-time clock in the dongle which records the specific time (hour, minute, second) and date (day, month, year). If there isn't a battery inside the dongle, it is not a real-time dongle. There are only three real-time dongles: CodeMeter CmStick/T, HASP Time and UniKey Time.
With the Nintendo DS
and the Nintendo DS Lite
having a slot that can accommodate Game Boy Advance
games, a few DS games have used this GBA slot to allow interaction between DS games and GBA games while both are plugged in. Since in this case the DS game is running and the GBA game is simply serving in a read-only capacity (the player may sometimes use data from the GBA game, but cannot actively play it in this mode), many people refer to the GBA game plugged in as the "dongle" game. This is notably used in the popular Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
, Pokémon Platinum
, and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
games. The Nintendo DSi
does not have a GBA game slot, which means it cannot be used in the same way as the original DS or the DS Lite, a decision that was highly controversial.
Another issue with dongles is that they can be lost, damaged or stolen. Without a dongle, a software package is typically rendered useless until a replacement key or package is purchased. However, it is a common practice for a software company to charge the full price of a brand new package to replace the software dongle.
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
that plugs into an electrical connector
Electrical connector
An electrical connector is an electro-mechanical device for joining electrical circuits as an interface using a mechanical assembly. The connection may be temporary, as for portable equipment, require a tool for assembly and removal, or serve as a permanent electrical joint between two wires or...
on a computer and serves as an electronic "key
Key (cryptography)
In cryptography, a key is a piece of information that determines the functional output of a cryptographic algorithm or cipher. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In encryption, a key specifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, or vice versa...
" for a piece of software; the program will only run when the dongle is plugged in. The term "dongle" was originally used to refer only to software-protection dongles; however, currently "dongle" is often used to refer to any small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer. This article is limited in scope to dongles used for the purpose of copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
or authentication of software to be used on that system.
Electrically, dongles mostly appear as two-interface security tokens with transient data flow that does not interfere with other dongle functions and a pull communication that reads security data from the dongle. These are used by some proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
vendor
Vendor (supply chain)
A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.- History :...
s as a form of copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
or digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
, because it is generally harder to replicate a dongle than to copy the software it authenticates. Without the dongle, the software may run only in a restricted mode, or not at all. As of July 26, 2010 it is legal in the United States to use programs protected by this method without a dongle, if the dongle is no longer working and a replacement not available.
History
In 1980, WORDCRAFT became one of the earliest programsComputer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
to use a software protection dongle. Its dongle was a simple passive device that supplied data to the pins of a Commodore PET
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
's external cassette port in a predetermined manner. This was possible because the PET cassette
Datassette
The Commodore 1530 Datasette , was Commodore's dedicated computer tape drive.It provided access to an inexpensive storage medium for Commodore's 8-bit home/personal computers, notably the PET, VIC-20, and C64...
port supplied both power and data connections through a proprietary edge connector
Edge connector
An edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board consisting of traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching socket. The edge connector is a money-saving device because it only requires a single discrete female connector , and they also tend to be...
. It did, however, make the cassette port unusable for its intended purpose.
The two-cubic-inch (32 cm³) resin-potted first generation device was called a "dongle" by the inventor, in the absence of a suitable term. The distributor, Dataview Ltd., then based in Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, UK, then went on to produce a derivative dongle, which became their core business.
An early example of the term was in 1984, when early production Sinclair QL
Sinclair QL
The Sinclair QL , was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as the successor to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
s were shipped with part of the QL firmware held on an external 16 KB ROM cartridge (infamously known as the "kludge
Kludge
A kludge is a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together...
" or "dongle"), until the QL was redesigned to increase the internal ROM capacity from 32 to 48 KB.
Dongles rapidly evolved into active devices that contained a serial transceiver (UART
Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter
A universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, abbreviated UART , is a type of "asynchronous receiver/transmitter", a piece of computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial forms. UARTs are commonly used in conjunction with communication standards such as EIA RS-232, RS-422 or...
) and even a microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
to handle transactions with the host. Later versions adopted the USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
interface in preference to the serial
Serial port
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
or parallel interface. The USB interface is gradually becoming dominant.
A 1992 advertisement for Rainbow Technologies claimed the word dongle was derived from the name "Don Gall". Though untrue, this has given rise to an urban myth.
The Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
episode It's the arts contains the pseudo-German proper noun fragment dingle- dangle- dongle and it's possible the physical dangling out of the device inspired the consonant name.
Copy protection
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
such as "hardware key", "hardware token", or "security device" instead of "dongle", but the term "dongle" is much more common in day-to-day use.
Usage
Efforts to introduce dongle copy-protection in the mainstream software market have met stiff resistance from users. Such copy-protection is more typically used with very expensive packages and vertical marketVertical market
A vertical market is a group of similar businesses and customers that engage in trade based on specific and specialized needs. Often, participants in a vertical market are very limited to a subset of a larger industry...
software, such as CAD
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
/CAM
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
software, MICROS Systems
MICROS Systems
MICROS Systems, Inc., is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services for the restaurant point of sale, hotel, hospitality, specialty retail markets and other similar markets...
hospitality and special retail software, Digital Audio Workstation
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
applications, and some translation memory
Translation memory
A translation memory, or TM, is a database that stores so-called "segments", which can be sentences or sentence-like units that have previously been translated. A translation memory system stores the words, phrases and paragraphs that have already been translated, in order to aid human translators...
packages. The vast majority of printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
and prepress
Prepress
Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing...
software, such as CtP
Computer to plate
Computer to plate is an imaging technology used in modern printing processes. In this technology, an image created in a Desktop Publishing application is output directly to a printing plate....
workflows, require dongles.
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. This is a form of tightly controlled licensing, which allows the vendor to engage in vendor lock-in
Vendor lock-in
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...
and charge more than it would otherwise for the product. An example is the way Kodak licenses Prinergy
Prinergy
Prinergy is a prepress workflow system created by Creo in 1999 and currently maintained and sold through Kodak . It is a client/server system that integrates PDF creation, job proofing, imposition, and a Raster Image Processor into one unified workflow....
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.
USB dongles are also a big part of Steinberg's audio production and editing systems, such as Cubase, Wavelab, Hypersonic, HALion, and others. The dongle used by Steinberg's products is also known as a Steinberg Key. 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.
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. A developer can also use the dongle to store user settings or even a complete "portable" version of the application. Not all flash drives are suitable for this use, as not all manufacturers install unique serial numbers into their devices. Although such medium security may deter a casual hacker, the lack of a processor core in the dongle to authenticate data, do encryption/decryption, and execute inaccessible binary code makes such a passive dongle inappropriate for all but the lowest-priced software. A simpler and even less secure option is to use unpartitioned or unallocated storage in the dongle to store license data. 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.
Issues
There are potential weaknesses in the implementation of the protocol between the dongle and the copy-controlled software. It requires considerable cunning to make this hard to crackSoftware cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
. 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".
Modern dongles include built-in strong encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
and use fabrication techniques designed to thwart reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
. Typical dongles also now contain non-volatile memory — key parts of the software may actually be stored and executed on the dongle. Thus dongles have become secure cryptoprocessor
Secure cryptoprocessor
A secure cryptoprocessor is a dedicated computer on a chip or microprocessor for carrying out cryptographic operations, embedded in a packaging with multiple physical security measures, which give it a degree of tamper resistance....
s that execute inaccessible program instructions that may be input to the cryptoprocessor only in encrypted form. The original secure cryptoprocessor was designed for copy protection of personal computer software (see US Patent 4,168,396, Sept 18, 1979) to provide more security than dongles could then provide. See also bus encryption
Bus encryption
Bus encryption is the use of encrypted program instructions on a data bus in a computer that includes a secure cryptoprocessor for executing the encrypted instructions...
.
In counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
versions of a program, the code to check for a dongle is often deleted or circumvented. As a result, the counterfeit version may be easier to use and thus may be preferable to the original.
Hardware cloning, where the dongle is emulated by a device driver, is also a threat to traditional dongles. To thwart this, some dongle vendors adopted smart card product, which is widely used in extremely rigid security requirement environments such as military and banking, in their dongle products.
Dongle drivers bring problems for end-users. Most developers and software vendors want to get rid of the dongle driver headache. There are some driverless dongles on the market, which make the protection easy for both software vendors and end-users. Most of driverless dongles are based-on HID
Human interface device
A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device that interacts directly with, and most often takes input from, humans and may deliver output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of Microsoft when he...
technology, which is working like a mouse or keyboard.
A more innovative modern dongle is designed with a code porting mechanism, meaning you can transfer part of your important program code or license enforcement into a secure hardware environment (such as in a smart card OS, mentioned above). An ISV
Independent software vendor
Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...
can port thousands of lines of important computer program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
code into the dongle.
The real-time dongle contains an internal real-time clock, independent from the Operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
clock, and designed for software vendors who need to control and manage rental and sale usage and/or maintenance. This allows pay per use by charging the end users timely and periodically for actual periods of use. This function is based on a real-time clock in the dongle which records the specific time (hour, minute, second) and date (day, month, year). If there isn't a battery inside the dongle, it is not a real-time dongle. There are only three real-time dongles: CodeMeter CmStick/T, HASP Time and UniKey Time.
Game consoles
Some unlicensed titles for game consoles used dongles to connect to officially licensed cartridges, in order to circumvent the authentication chip embedded in the console.With the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
and the Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo DS Lite
The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is a slimmer, brighter, and more lightweight redesign of the Nintendo DS, designed to be aesthetically sleeker, while taking styling cues from the Game Boy Advance SP, and to appeal to broader commercial audiences...
having a slot that can accommodate Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
games, a few DS games have used this GBA slot to allow interaction between DS games and GBA games while both are plugged in. Since in this case the DS game is running and the GBA game is simply serving in a read-only capacity (the player may sometimes use data from the GBA game, but cannot actively play it in this mode), many people refer to the GBA game plugged in as the "dongle" game. This is notably used in the popular Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
are role-playing games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. With the enhanced remake Pokémon Platinum, the games comprise the fifth installment and fourth generation of the Pokémon series of RPGs...
, Pokémon Platinum
Pokémon Platinum
is a title in the Pokémon series of video games. It was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is an enhanced remake of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in the same vein as Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald were for their respective games...
, and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
are enhanced remakes of the 1999 video games Pokémon Gold and Silver. The games are part of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, and were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS...
games. The Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
does not have a GBA game slot, which means it cannot be used in the same way as the original DS or the DS Lite, a decision that was highly controversial.
Hardware issues
Older dongles are built for parallel interfaces. Some newer computers and especially notebooks do not have these interfaces, so the software is not usable on these devices without expansion cards, and sometimes even with them (if it checks IRQ ports).Another issue with dongles is that they can be lost, damaged or stolen. Without a dongle, a software package is typically rendered useless until a replacement key or package is purchased. However, it is a common practice for a software company to charge the full price of a brand new package to replace the software dongle.
Manufacturers
- SafeNet Inc. – AladdinAladdin Knowledge SystemsAladdin Knowledge Systems was a company that produced software for digital rights management and Internet security. The company was by SafeNet Inc, in 2009. Its corporate headquarters are located in Belcamp...
– Hardlock, HASP, Sentinel - SecuTech Solution Inc. – UniKey
- Wibu-Systems – CodeMeter, WibuKey
- MicroWorks, Inc. – SmartDongle
- MARX CrypoTech LP – MARX CRYPTO-BOX USB dongles for software and digital media protection.
- TDi GmbH – Matrix dongles
See also
- License managerLicense managerA license manager is a software management tool used by software vendors or by end-user organizations to control where and how software products are able to run. License managers protect software vendors from losses due to software piracy and enable end-user organizations to enforce compliance with...
- Product activationProduct activationProduct activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary computer software programs. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific...
- Digital rights managementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
- Trusted clientTrusted clientIn computing, a trusted client is a device or program controlled by the user of a service, but with restrictions designed to prevent its use in ways not authorised by the provider of the service. That is, the client is a device that vendors trust and then sell to the consumers, whom they do not trust...
- Security tokenSecurity tokenA security token may be a physical device that an authorized user of computer services is given to ease authentication...
- Lock-out chipLock-out chipIn a general sense, a lockout chip is a chip within an electronic device to prevent other manufacturers from using a company's device to perform certain functions....