User's Manual

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• Hard disk loading: unlawful installation on the hard-disk of personal computers, often as an incentive for end-
users to buy hardware from a particular hardware dealer.
• Hire: sale of unauthorized software for temporary use, as if one were hiring a video-cassette.
There are also different types of IT pirates:
•
Resellers selling hardware with illegally preinstalled software.
•
Companies using unauthorized copies of software for internal use.
•
Persons obtaining profits by forging software
• Any person who makes an illegal copy of another person's program.
2.4 A history of software protection systems
In the seventies, most software was proprietary, designed for use in a specific commercial environment, and operating
on mainframe systems. Therefore, piracy did not exist. As soon as computers changed from mainframe architecture to
client/server architecture, installing software on one's own workstation became standard practice, and the concept of
distribution and license was thus born.
The 80s saw a rapid spread of personal computers leading to the creation of a large-scale pirate underground network
for illegal distribution of software. This made it necessary to protect software. The 90s saw piracy take a further step
ahead thanks to the Internet, which opened up new channels for unlawful distribution. New technologies, such as CD
writers, made illegal software duplication and distribution even easier, thus contributing to further growth of piracy.
The battle to topple piracy began in the 80s. Software protection mechanisms were used in the DOS environment, such
as special disk formatting using functions, which were not, part the operating system itself (additional tracks, non-
formatted tracks, disk sector exchanges, modification of disk rotations peed, etc.), of the magnetic support was altered.
Other protection systems also spread around: such as, inhibiting copies with the standard DOS commands (and,
therefore, the back-up copies too). When the software protection technologies improved, hardware security systems
began to be integrated with license management programs.
As the need for protection grew, techniques were developed to make software and programs ever more secure. In spite
of this, piracy backers still survive, and grow causing huge economic damage. The on-going growth of technology is
one of the main factors that makes piracy possible. The possible illegal gains are its motivating factor. It does not seem
that piracy will stop in the short-term. All this increases the need for a software protection solution.
2.5 Eutronsec paves the way for a new software protection era
Eutronsec has created an innovative technology that differs from the traditional protection model. Eutronsec's solution
effectively resists piracy and the globally widespread cracking methods. Software protection strategy has shifted its
attention from "protection of the copy" to a more realistic "control of software execution". The prevention of IT piracy
goes beyond mere inhibition of an abusive copy. It has evolved to limiting use of software to one copy at a time.
The SmartKey dongle for protecting software is designed mainly for the requirements of this type of security. By using
leading-edge anti-hacking mechanisms, SmartKey is the hardware protection system that offers the best solutions for
software sellers.
SmartKey is a small electronic device, which can be fitted in the parallel or USB connector of any computer. Each
dongle has a unique personalized digital ‘fingerprint’, which can be recognized by the software it protects.
Encryption is the heart of this software protection technology. Through use of a combination of algorithms and
encrypting dongles, SmartKey resists the most advanced breaching attempts by pirates. SmartKey also overcomes the
disadvantages of normal anti-copy protection because it enables the user to make back-up copies of his/her own
protected program.