FTDI offers ActiveX software control for USB chips

Future Technology Devices International Ltd (FTDI) has announced the availability of its ActiveX software control, SafeGuard-IT. Together with the hardware-based FTDIChip-ID feature, the ActiveX control provides a software security dongle capability. Such features are available when used together with FTDI?s FT232R USB UART and FT245R USB FIFO ICs.

The FTDIChip-ID is a unique 32bit number that is burned into the IC device during manufacture. This ID is then readable over a connected USB port and forms the basis of a security check to prevent use of unlicensed copies of application software.

An asymmetric cryptography technique, using both public and private keys, is incorporated into the SafeGuard-IT control. Encrypted information based on the FTDIChip-ID, the private key and an optional password, is programmed back into the IC?s integrated EEPROM. This provides an easy to deploy method of software protection with a high level of security. With this approach, SafeGuard-IT protected software packages need only be compiled once and can then be distributed with just two additional files to decrypt the information, the public key and the SafeGuard-IT DLL.

The SafeGuard-IT control is available for free download from the FTDI Website.