A dongle is a hardware device that must be plugged into a computer’s USB port before certain software programs can run. A dongle emulator is a fake dongle that bypasses this limitation, but it is illegal. Dongle emulators can be created by hackers or purchased online, but many websites claiming to provide them are not legitimate. Some software companies require users to purchase a new software package if the dongle is lost or stolen. As hackers find ways around new innovations, new forms of encryption dongles may be necessary.
A dongle is a piece of hardware that must be plugged into a computer’s Universal Serial Bus (USB) port before some types of software programs will run. This is to ensure that the software is not copied or otherwise shared. A dongle emulator is a fake dongle created to get around this limitation, just like a skeleton key. Since dongles are often encrypted to avoid this type of hack, a dongle emulator is also known as a “crack dongle”.
Since creating a dongle emulator frees the software to be used by those who have not paid for it, it is considered illegal. Many software licenses have clauses stating that creating such a device violates the user agreement. That doesn’t mean that dongle emulators aren’t created by hackers, and guides for cracking a dongle’s security encryption aren’t available on the Internet and elsewhere.
Currently, there are two ways to get a dongle emulator. If a person is able to bypass the security of the network, he can create one himself. Information on how to make a dongle emulator is usually passed from hacker to hacker and exchanged on Internet forums and websites. Someone without coding knowledge can also buy dongle emulators from websites. Due to their illegality, many websites claiming to provide working dongle emulators don’t seem legitimate.
Because software that uses dongles is typically for a small market, the price of a replacement dongle can be in the hundreds of US dollars. Some software companies ask the user to purchase an entirely new software package if the dongle is lost or stolen, further inflating the price. Defenders of dongle emulators argue that such restrictions on the use of software are unfair and incompatible with the actual conditions of using computers and software.
Earlier forms of software simply required the presence of a dongle to run the software on a computer. Hackers violated these restrictions by writing a program to trick the software into thinking the dongle was already plugged in. To avoid this, some dongles are now designed to hold certain pieces of software code or perform certain tasks for the program. Even if a dongle emulator tells the software that a dongle is present, the software may fail because parts of the code are missing. As hackers find ways around these new innovations, it may be necessary to find new forms of encryption dongles.
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