Care and feeding of your security key

HydroComp Web Log

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Care and feeding of your security key
Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director

Monday, 14-MAY-2007 by Donald MacPherson - Technical Director

Every so often, we get a call from a customer that they broke their security key (i.e., dongle, hardware lock). Back in the days of printer port keys, this was an infrequent event. In fact, we only had three or four printer port keys returned, and only one was legitimately "broken". (If I recall correctly, the others were burned or had an "electrostatic event".) Since we began supporting USB keys, however, we have seen a more keys that were truly "broken". As they tend to stick out beyond the computer with less physical attachment than a printer port key, I guess that this should come as no surprise.

Most people don't think about the "care and feeding" of their keys. Consider the implications of damaging a key. Without the proper key, you no longer have access to the software.

When you purchased your software, you bought much more than the physical goods themselves (like the CD, User's Guide, security key). You actually bought the right to use the intellectual property that makes up the software code. Put another way, you bought access to the software. The security key gives you that access. So, the one single important component of your purchase is the key itself.

One suggestion – Use a USB hub for your security keys. These are inexpensive USB "extenders" that you can put in a convenient location to keep your security keys out of harm's way, and from getting lost. They also can help protect a key by using the hub cable to insert and remove the key from the computer, rather than pulling on the key itself.

Take care of your keys, and they'll take care of you. (Well, not really, but I didn't have a better idea for a concluding sentence...)