Broken Dongle

[ddrecovery]

Just got a dongle in with a broken connector. Board is also damaged so cannot be repaired. I presume there is little point completing a chip off (if possible as I have not opened it completely yet) due to either encryption some other security features on a dongle?

[Sasha Sheremetov]

Just got a dongle in with a broken connector. Board is also damaged so cannot be repaired. I presume there is little point completing a chip off (if possible as I have not opened it completely yet) due to either encryption some other security features on a dongle?

Photo will always tell more than explanations
Usually dongles use ROM chip on board (either sop8 or proprietary blob type), which is normally crypto ROM no point to chip-off.
If board is 2-layer, there's no problem to "re-wire" it (unless many passives lost/broken), if 4-layer then it's tricky.

[HaQue]

Usually software companies account for replacements - this is by far the easiest way. What software does the dongle protect? is it a HASP or other? but in any case, photos are needed as Sasha said.

have you looked under a microscope at the damaged board? often it isn't as bad as you think.

If software company refuses to support it, another option is a dongle emulator, which a reverse engineer could create using the data from your original.

[data-medics]

Dongle emulators will work great if you have an original dongle that is working so you can analyze the communication from the PC with it and then you can emulate what the dongle is doing by software. If the dongle isn't working to start with there is nothing to "sniff" and later "spoof".

As Spildit says, you'll need to get the original working even if it's just with wires holding it temporarily together so it works a few times to figure it out. Maybe can't permanently "fix" it, but just get it working long enough.

[HaQue]

I would be checking with the company. eg:

http://www.geocomp.com.au/support/dongle.html

If a key is faulty, we will replace it for free provided:
•the faulty key is returned to us, and
•the licence is included in a current Customer Care Agreement

some companies use web upgradeable dongles, and you can buy a replacement blank, and liase with the company to reflash it to your license

It would be very poor form for a company to not help you out with a broken dongle after paying so much for their software..

I would try this route first as any kind of interfering with the dongle could actually give a company cause to not help, plus if the dongle gets damaged beyond any hope, the customer could be out of pocket a significant amount.

still love to see pics, as usually the circuits aren't that complex and a fix could be simple

I know what you guys are saying about sniffing them, yes, they aren't as easy to defeat as they used to be.. I remember spending at least a month in softice and HIEW without success only to have some very smart guy from up north show me the patch offsets in 3 days....

[ddrecovery]

Thanks for all the advice. I have not taken a picture yet as I have not opened the case. Still waiting for the clients approval. This Dongle is from a software manufacturer that is no longer in business so this Dongle is all we have to work with. Once approved I will get to work and give you more info. Thanks.

[jeremyb]

fyi: i work on these