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From: slerner@sesame.UUCP (Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Question: Emulators & Dongles
Message-ID: <266@sesame.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 03:42:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: sesame.266
Posted: Sun Aug 11 03:42:28 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 03:23:42 EDT
References: <381@ccice6.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Lotus Development Corp
Lines: 33

> With all this talk about dongles and protection schemes,
> I was wondering if the dongle method would prevent the
> use of an Emulator. I am using an Apllied Microsystems
> emulator to aid me in doing some real time debugging
> of value added hardware and software for my PC. If I
> were to use a dongle protected sofware package, would I have
> to disconnect my emulator??
> 	If I do not need to remove it, then I could also
> use it to "debug" the software to by-pass the dongle and/or
> copy the protected code to non-target-ram and alter it.
>

As I have said before, a properly designed key system would
be truely patch proof.  With several critical (but inobvious)
routines EXECUTING in the key, patching would be non-productive
(eg: the program wouldn't check the key, but it also wouldn't
run :-)

As to figuring out what the key is doing, with enough dummy
params going back and forth, and routine to routine ID mapping
being variable, it would be more work to crack the system than
to write the entire application from scratch...
 
-- 
Opinions expressed are public domain, and do not belong to Lotus
Development Corp.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner

              {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner
                      {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner
                                slerner%sesame@harvard.ARPA