Guardant: Guardant Sign

Guardant: Guardant Sign

A family of classic hardware keys for licensing and protection of software in Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems.

List of solutions, that include the product

• Desktop and server software
• 1C configurations
• Protection of software from reverse engineering
• Software sales management

Advantages

Protected memory prevents unauthorized reading/modification of license, debugging and analysis of the logic of the key at the hardware level.

Remote update mechanism allows to update a license key remotely without the possibility of substituting license parameters.

Secure exchange protocol uses encryption based on unique session keys when transferring data between the application and the hardware key.

Models

Guardant Sign

The basic model in the classic form factor.

Guardant Sign micro

A model in a miniature form factor for use on laptops and tablets.

Guardant Sign SD

A model with a removable microSD flash card for software distribution.

Guardant Sign Net

A model for protecting network software.

Guardant Time

A model with a battery to limit the software operating time.

Guardant Time Net

A model with a battery to protect network software and limit its operation time.

Key operation scheme

Application protection scheme

The final application protection scheme depends on the specific task. However, the basic principle can be represented as follows:

• The application is "linked" to the license using automatic security tools or a special API;
• The license is securely stored in the key memory;
• During operation, the protected application constantly exchanges information with the key. If the key is missing or includes unsuitable or expired license, then the software does not work.

Thus, copying a protected program makes no sense, since without a key it becomes inoperable.

Principle of network protection

The mechanism for protecting and licensing applications in the network is as follows:

• A special intermediary program, the Guardant network license manager, is installed on a dedicated server or workstation;
• A network hardware key is installed on the same server or station;
• The application is protected either with the help of automatic protection tools or with the help of the Guardant Licensing API;
• The license manager and the key will strictly control the number of connections according to the licenses programmed by the developer.

Data protection in the network protocol is carried out at the hardware level, that is, it is encrypted on session keys generated between the protected application and the electronic key without any intermediaries.

Characteristics

Licensing models

-Perpetual: √

-Number of launches/uses: √

-Limitation on functions/modules: √

-Number of network (competitive) licenses with counting copies of the program / workstations/ connections : for "Net" models

-Limitation of operation time: for "Time" models

-Custom: √

Security mechanisms

-Unique Key ID: in the key memory and on the case √

-Symmetric AES-128 encryption: √

-Digital signature on ECC160 elliptic curves: √

-Tunnel encryption of exchange protocol traffic: √

Operating mode

-Supported Drivers: WinUSB, HID, Guardant driver

-Supported OS:

• x86 and x64 versions of Windows XP and above
• x86 and x86_64 versions of Linux
• macOS

-USB interface: 1.1 and above

Memory

-Protected memory for licenses: 57 Kbytes

-Independent flash memory: up to 64 GB in "Sign SD" models

-Data storage period (protected memory / flash): 10 years

-Number of rewrite cycles (protected memory / flash): at least 1,000,000

Clock

-Real-time clock: for "Time" models

-Average battery life: 5 years

-Clock error: up to 15 minutes per year

Guarantee

-Key: 3 years

-Battery: 1 year

-Independent flash memory: 1 year

Physical characteristics

-Case color (standard)

·green for Sign models

• black with green inclusion for Sign micro models
• blue for Time models

-Key size

• Full-size models 47x16x8 mm
• "Sign micro" model 18x16x6 mm

-Key weight

• Full-size models 6.3 gr.
• "Sign micro" model 4 gr.

-Air temperature during storage/transportation

from -40 to + 70 °C, for "Time" models from +0 to +45 °C

-Air temperature during key operation

from +0 to +45 °C

-Relative humidity of the air

from 0 to 100% non-condensing