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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!yale!ima!johnl
From: johnl@ima.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: software protection - dongles & othe
Message-ID: <97800003@ima.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 22:47:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ima.97800003
Posted: Sun Aug 11 22:47:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 00:51:13 EDT
References: <225@brl-tgr.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:brl-tgr:-22500:ima:97800003:000:1299
Nf-From: ima!johnl    Aug 11 22:47:00 1985


/* Written  3:27 pm  Aug  8, 1985 by che@ptsfb in ima:net.micro */
> Hmm, still doesn't take care of the "black box" boys who hang a
> passive, intelligent device onto the RS-232 and monitor the data stream.

I suspect that a typical dongle for an expensive (say $700) program would
have an 8051 in it, which could do some fairly complex logic.  Remember, the
dongle doesn't have to be impossible to break -- it just has to be hard
enough to break that it's easier to get the program legitimately than to
break it.  You can break anything with $50,000 worth of lab equipment.

This doesn't mean that I think the dongle as currently proposed is a good
idea.  The thought of plugging stuff in and out of the DB25 on the back of
your PC several times a day disturbs me; it's not designed for that heavy a
duty cycle without breaking prematurely.  And the keyring sounds like
it'll simultaneously be logically too small for the number of programs a
serious user uses, and physically too big to fit in the 2 inches behind my PC.

John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400
{ decvax!cca | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA

The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken
into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization.