Sentinel Hardware Keys Developer's Guide - Customer Connection ...

Attack the Hardware
Vulnerability Assessment - Basic Types of Attacks
Contents Glossary Index Troubleshooting
Typically, this method is extremely difficult, time-consuming, and requires
very expensive equipment to do. Moreover, the Sentinel Key use chip-onboard
(COB) technology for high reliability, and greater protection against
reverse-engineering. The Sentinel Key memory is encrypted using multiple
unique random keys to defeat memory clones.
Attack the SafeNet Components
Generally, the hacker targets the SafeNet-supplied components (such as,
driver replacement or emulation and replay attacks), so that they return
correct answers to the application without the Sentinel Key being plugged
in. To combat such attacks, all the communication between the components
is passed through a Secure Communication Tunnel that makes use of industry-standard
algorithms (see “Hardware Key with Cutting-edge Security
Technology” on page 7).
Attack the Communication Between Parties
The communication between the various parties involved in licensing—the
developer, customer, and distributor—is also prone to attacks. For example,
a customer may try applying the update code multiple times. However, due
to the “one time update” capability of the hardware key, an update code cannot
be used more than once.
Also, the distributor may program more number of licenses for customers
than he/she is allowed for. To prevent this, you can specify a limit to meter
the licenses programmed. For details, refer to “Programming Distributor
Keys” on page 204.
Time Tampering Attacks
System time tampering or rolling back of the system clock is one of the mostcommon
way of license infringement for lease/trial applications. To address
this, you can use Sentinel Key with real-time clock. It contains a tamperresistant
internal real-time clock that indicate the exact date and time to
track the usage of the leased applications. The real clock keeps track of time
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