What Does The Word "Dongle" Mean?

The word dongle basically refers to a small kind of hardware device, which connects to a computer in order to validate some part of software. If a dongle is absent, the software tends to run in a very controlled or even a limited mode or sometimes even refuses to run. They are generally used by some proprietary vendors as an outward appearance of copy deterrence or digital rights administration. This is for the reason that it is much more difficult to copy the dongle rather than to copy the software it authenticates.

Dongles known as Software protection dongles are used with very exclusive packages and upright market software, like CAD/CAM software, Digital Audio Workstation applications and some conversion memory packages. Some of the very recognized software protection dongle manufacturers are SafeNet,[1] Aladdin[2] and WIBU-SYSTEMS.