Dongle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Various USB dongles
Parallel port dongles

Copy protection plugs , also known as dongle , dongle , hardlock or (hardware) key , are used to protect software from unauthorized duplication.

A copy protection plug is supplied with the software, for example, which is plugged into an interface on the computer ( parallel port , USB, etc.). The "dongled" software then checks once or regularly whether the copy protection plug is present when it is used, and refuses to work if it is not present or, for example, only enables limited program functions.

However, other forms of hardware dongles are also possible, for example using public-private-key encryption methods . The specific (encrypted) dongle information is then not contained in a USB stick but, for example, in the flash ROM of the target platform. In addition, there are also network variants of the dongle in which the program searches for a license server in the network and debits or releases a license from it. In this case, the dongling takes place either against the MAC address of the requesting computer or against the inserted hardware dongle. There is also the option of generating a special license number based on the internal serial number of a connected drive. This opens up the possibility of obtaining software online, as the hardware for the dongle can easily be purchased locally or used directly.

Dongles are mainly to be found in connection with software in the upper price range with prices of several thousand euros per license.

technology

Early dongles with different interfaces

A dongle is considered to be one of the most secure copy protection measures , since the dongle can usually not be copied or only with considerable effort. However, it is possible to remove the dongle call from the application software or to simulate a suitable dongle. The software manufacturer who wants to use a dongle can make manipulation of the application software or the dongle simulation more difficult with various measures:

  • Do not use standardized code libraries from the dongle manufacturer
  • Protect security-relevant routines with cryptographically strong checksums
  • Let the dongle decrypt parts of the program code at runtime
  • carry out random dongle queries through background processes ( software watchdogs )

This makes it difficult to analyze the data stream (chronological sequence of the I / O requests) and thus to simulate the dongle. In principle, the same applies to removing the queries (distribution of the queries to as many places as possible in the program code).

Psychologically, too, a dongle is used to assign a piece of hardware and thus something tangible to an abstract license for the end user .

The latest dongles use public keys and a secure tunnel from the driver to the dongle. With the public key infrastructure , the software can now have any values ​​signed and check them with the public key. This makes it impossible to simulate the dongle, as has often been the case in the past. With the new generation of dongles, there is currently only one known way to bypass the dongle. To do this, the application must be decompiled and the dongle queries must be removed from the application in such a way that the actual function is not impaired. If, for example, the application stores data encrypted with the public key of the dongle and then decrypts it with the help of the dongle when it is reloaded, the reprogramming of these functions can only be managed with great effort. Therefore, the copy protection of the new dongle generation is difficult to circumvent at the same time with good implementation.

The copy protection key does not prevent copying of the software itself, but only the use of more than the number of licenses purchased .

As a measure to make the theft of dongles more difficult, interface cards with parallel or USB interfaces pointing inwards are offered so that dongles can work inside locked computer cases.

Colloquially, other devices are also referred to as dongles, provided they are connected to the USB port.

costs

Dongles are sold in different quantities, among other things. The price per piece starts at around € 6.

Advantages and disadvantages of the dongle

  • Even a copy of the data carrier that is absolutely identical to the original cannot run without a dongle. In this way, the software manufacturer can allow the user to make a backup copy of the program CD / DVD / Blu-ray without having to fear pirated copies. However, if the dongle is damaged or lost, the software will no longer work on the computer of its rightful owner.
  • The dongle occupies a slot that is then no longer available for other devices. Dongles are therefore not well suited as copy protection for games that use one or more joysticks. If you want to use two or more dongle-protected programs on the same computer, you may have to constantly switch the dongles.
  • The effort and costs involved in manufacturing make the dongle unprofitable as a copy protection measure for smaller software manufacturers and freelance programmers.
  • The dongle production consumes more resources and creates more electronic waste.

Word origin and development of meaning

The noun dongle is probably related to the verb dangle and can be found for the first time in 1981, in the German-speaking area in 1983.

The verb dangle , which is also used to a limited extent as a noun, has the meanings "dangle, hang, hang down, slither, wiggle". This word was probably adopted from Scandinavian in the 1590s, probably via North Frisian into English. The word dong is on the one hand an onomatopoeic expression for a deep bell tone, but colloquially it is also a word for the penis or artificial replicas of it, meaning something that hangs down. It is often used in the onomatopoeic double form ding-dong , but also for a long time in the extended form dingle-dongle . The latter was used for bell-like sounds, but also before 1963 in the meaning of "dangling".

Due to the similarity of sound, an advertisement by Rainbow Technologies from 1992 claimed that the term dongle came from the software developer "Don Gall", who is said to have invented the dongle as copy protection. This spread as an urban legend for some time .

In English, dongle only meant software protection, possibly also access protection for the hardware, but the meaning in English expanded over time to other small, attached, protruding or hanging parts. The next component in hardware development, which was called this, were the small adapter cables around connectors for networks or ISDN adapters (" RJ-45 ") or standard modems ("RJ-11") with many of the narrow PCs used in laptops Connect card . Many of these devices for USB have the plug integrated in the housing and a short cable to the USB plug from which they dangle. The term is also used broadly for adapters for peripheral devices. The next development step are radio transmission modules on the USB port ( transmitter dongle ) for Bluetooth , WLAN ( wireless dongle ), cellular networks ( cellular dongle ) or proprietary protocols for wireless keyboards and mice usually manage without cables, the latter can only protrude a few millimeters. In terms of function and appearance, there is often little or no difference to USB sticks, USB drives or similar connected devices, which can ultimately also be referred to as dongles and are similar to USB dongles.

There are also tendencies towards this usage of the word dongle in German .

Key disk or dongle disk

In some programs that were stored on floppy disk, the copy protection was on additional tracks (" illegal tracks ") that were not initially copied by conventional copy programs (later copier programs were able to do this, however, so that the copy protection methods of " illegal. " tracks "had to be refined). You could "copy" such floppy disks or install the program on your hard drive, but when the program started you were asked to insert the original disk so that the program could check whether you are its rightful owner. Examples for this protection method are the Amiga programs " Deluxe Music Construction Set " and " TURBOprint 2 ".

For some games that consisted of several floppy disks, there was a variant of the key disk copy protection: The first and / or last disk was / were copy protected, but you could make backup copies of the remaining disks.

Computer-specific protection (hardware link)

Some programs query specific hardware data on the computer on which they are installed (e.g. the serial number of the motherboard or a hard drive) and refuse to work on other computers with different data. A program that asks for the motherboard serial number does not run on a virtual PC either, since its motherboard always has the serial number "0".
However, if the hardware component to be checked is damaged, or if it is removed or replaced, the software will no longer work on the computer of its rightful owner, who may then have to contact the software manufacturer.
In Germany and some other countries, such a hardware link for commercial software is illegal (e.g. Microsoft points out in its license conditions for Windows 10 that the hardware link does not apply in Germany), so it is only used for programs for its own use or can be used for demonstration purposes (e.g. as an anti-theft device).

Linking the software to an internet account

With some programs, users are forced to create an Internet account with the software manufacturer and log in there regularly. The disadvantages of this method of protection are as follows:

  • Some programs have to be activated on the Internet during the trial period , ie you have to register, even if you do not want to keep the program after the trial period has expired but instead want to uninstall it (data protection!)
  • The account / server could be hacked (data protection!).
  • The program cannot be used without an internet connection, even if it no longer needs internet access after checking the account.
  • The server with the user accounts could be temporarily unavailable or switched off completely.

Some websites also require you to set up an account if you want to use certain functions (leaving comments, accessing certain areas of the page, uploading and downloading files) and / or turning off advertisements. Sometimes this account is also chargeable ( paywall ).

De facto dongle protection

Some programs that were specially written to control hardware (e.g. drivers for printers and scanners) cannot be used without this hardware, so that they are de facto protected. Sometimes such programs are still protected. So complained z. For example, the Amiga magazine 2/88 states that the program disk of the C-64 emulator " GO-64! " Is also copy-protected, although the software is not used in any case without the supplied interface to connect a C-64 drive to the Amiga could be.

Lenslok protection

Lenslok lens (below) with cassette for size comparison

The Lenslok system consisted of a small, clear plastic lens on which a number of small prisms were stamped vertically. It was hardware copy protection, but the hardware was not connected to the computer. Before a program with this copy protection could be started, the software asked the user to hold the lens in front of the monitor in order to enter two letters that were displayed on the monitor but could only be read correctly through the lens in a corresponding input field .
Today Lenslok is no longer used because this copy protection method was easy to bypass and involved a great deal of effort for the user (sometimes the monitor or television had to be calibrated to recognize the letters, which did not work for all models).

Codewheel and manual query as copy protection

Some older games used a code wheel as copy protection: by twisting cardboard disks lying one on top of the other, you could read a code that you had to enter when starting the program.

Many programs also used their manual, from which passwords or codes were requested, as copy protection. With the increasing use of photocopiers, code wheels and manual queries became less important as protective measures.

Worth mentioning is the Amiga 3-D graphics program " Turbo Silver 3.0 ", whose manual was printed on red paper to make copying more difficult (Amiga magazine 4/89). However, the program did not ask for a password, and the program diskette was not copy-protected either.

Web links

Wiktionary: Dongle  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dongle - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. In: merriam-webster.com. Retrieved March 12, 2014 (English): “Origin of DONGLE: perhaps alteration of dangle; First Known Use: 1981 "
  2. ↑ dongle - Wiktionary. In: en.wiktionary.org. October 7, 2013, accessed March 12, 2014 .
  3. ^ Battle against software piracy begins . In: New Scientist . tape 92 , no. 1273 . Reed Business Information, October 1, 1981, ISSN  0262-4079 , p. 24 (English, full text in Google Book Search [accessed on March 12, 2014] "For instance many programs written for the Pet computer make use of a device known as a dongle. The dongle is an extra piece of memory that is plugged into the computer without which the program refuses to run. ").
  4. ↑ (unknown) . In: byte . tape 6 . McGraw-Hill, 1981, pp. 132 (English, "Before the International PET Users' Group published a method of copying Microchess, the game program had sold more than 100,000 copies. After publication of the copy method, sales dried up. By contrast, the semi-professional program Wordcraft enjoyed a dramatic increase in sales when the protection routine known as the "Dongle" was incorporated. ").
  5. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Klingenberg: Diskette station not accessible . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1983, pp. 36 ( online - Sept. 5, 1983 ).
  6. ↑ leo.org
  7. ↑ dangle - Online Etymology Dictionary. In: etymonline.com. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 (English): "(Danish dangle, Swedish dangla" to swing about, "Norwegian dangla), perhaps via North Frisian dangeln"
  8. ↑ dong - Wiktionary. In: en.wiktionary.org. February 4, 2014, accessed March 12, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Nils Thun: Reduplicative words in English: a study of formations of the types tick-tick, hurly-burly, and shilly-shally . Uppsala 1963, 4,1 Dangling and Flapping, p. 75, 59, 327 (English, "dingle-dongle: 1: ringing of metal p. 59; 2: dangling p.75").
  10. ↑ See advertisement in Byte magazine from August 1992, p. 133
  11. ↑ dongle. In: Jargon File 4.2.0. dictionary.reference.com, accessed March 12, 2014 .
  12. ↑ a b dongle. In: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, Denis Howe 2010. dictionary.reference.com, September 29, 2002, accessed on March 12, 2014 (English, 1st 1992): “2. A small adapter cable that connects, eg a PCMCIA modem to a telephone socket or a PCMCIA network card to an RJ45 network cable. "
  13. ↑ a b dongle. (No longer available online.) In: cnet.com Glossary. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013 ; accessed on March 12, 2014 (English): "A device that prevents the unauthorized use of hardware or software. A dongle usually consists of a small cord attached to a device or key that secures the hardware. The term is also used to signify a generic adapter for peripherals. " Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cnet.com
  14. ↑ dongle. In: csgnetwork.com Glossary. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 (English): "The pigtail attachment to a PCMCIA (PC Card) that allows connection to an outside service, such as a network, direct connection to another computer or to a telephone service. The connector can be for a coax, RJ-11, RJ-45 or other similar device. "
  15. ↑ dongle. In: techterms.com. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 (English): “2. A laptop ethernet card adapter. This is a little connector that attaches to a PC card in a laptop on one end, and to an Ethernet cable on the other end. Since most PC (or PCMCIA) network interface cards are too small to connect directly to a standard RJ-45 Ethernet cable, they need this little adapter that connects the card to the cable. (3Com cards that use an "X-Jack" connector do not need a dongle.) "
  16. ↑ PC card dongle. In: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. The Computer Language Company Inc., 2013, accessed on March 12, 2014 (English, with picture): “A device used to couple a network or telephone cable to a PC Card (PCMCIA). The dongle provides a way of adding RJ-45 and RJ-11 jacks to cards that do not have the jacks built in. Since PC Cards are thin, the cards that contain the jacks either have them protruding beyond the card or use an XJACK connector , a thin jack that slides in and out of the card. See hardware key. [...] Also called a "LAN dongle" or "network coupler," "
  17. ↑ dongle. In: Dictionary.com Unabridged. Based on the Random House Dictionary. dictionary.reference.com, 2014, accessed March 12, 2014 : “Also called wireless adapter. a device that can be plugged into a USB port to enable wireless access from a computer to an external Wi-Fi device, as a mobile phone, or to the Internet, via high-speed broadband, or to enable wireless connectivity in a printer or other peripheral. "
  18. ↑ a b dongle. In: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. The Computer Language Company Inc., 2013, accessed on March 12, 2014 (English): "Originally slang for a plug-in module to copy protect software (see hardware key), the term is used for any small module that plugs in and sticks out of a socket; for example, USB flash memory drives and other USB devices such as a wireless mouse receiver or cellular air card. If it uses a very short cable, it may still be called a dongle. See HDMI dongle, cellular dongle, PC Card dongle and USB drive. "
  19. ↑ wireless dongle. In: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. The Computer Language Company Inc., 2013, accessed on March 12, 2014 : “wireless dongle. A USB-based adapter for Ethernet, Bluetooth or some other wireless technology. Functioning as the base station's transmitter / receiver (transceiver), the USB plug is attached to the unit, which extends out from the USB socket. "
  20. ↑ a b dongle. In: oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 (English): "A small device able to be connected to and used with a computer, especially to allow access to wireless broadband or use of protected software."
  21. ↑ a b dongle. In: Cambridge Business English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press, accessed March 12, 2014 : "a device that is attached to a computer [...], or that can be used in other ways, for example as a wireless adapter"