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HANOVER, GERMANY -- Looking for a convenient way to secure access to your laptop or data, without having to remember passwords? The answer could be in the palm of your hand. Or maybe at the end of your key chain.

That's the hope of a growing number of companies offering security tokens: cheap devices about the size of a house key that plug into a universal serial bus port in order to verify a user's identity.

The tokens, also known as dongles, are intended for individual laptop users, for employees accessing company networks, or for software makers seeking to prevent pirate use of their products. A number of companies are showcasing their versions of the tokens here at the CeBIT trade show.

Pros and Cons

The chief advantage USB tokens offer over smart-card-based network login systems is the lack of need for a card reader, says a spokesperson for Aladdin Knowledge Systems, of Arlington Heights, Illinois, who asked not to be named. That can save significant amounts of money, for example, for a company with multiple employees needing to access a virtual private network from both home and work, he says.

Aladdin's eToken Pro, which has been on the market for about a year, retails for about $37 each in small numbers, with discounts for larger quantities. It has a built-in 1024-bit RSA Security processor and supports various security configurations, including the network logon system integrated in Microsoft's Windows 2000; Check Point Software Technologies and Cisco Systems VPN security; and public key infrastructure security systems from major suppliers including Entrust, RSA, and VeriSign.

Rainbow Technologies, also a major player in the security token market, was not present at the fair. But the Irvine, California-based security company introduced this week a new item in its USB token line. The iKey for Windows 2000 allows laptop users running the Microsoft operating system to secure the content on their machines, digitally sign e-mail, and use PKIs. The product is shipping now, a spokesperson for the company says. A starter package including five tokens, cable, software, and manuals costs about $280.

Also On Display

Some smaller entrants in the sector are on hand at CeBIT, including TechnoData GmbH of Eckernforde, Germany, which sells its Lockware USB tokens at prices ranging from $36 for fewer than 10, to $12 for 5,000 or more. The manufacturer focuses on copy protection, telling software makers, "Why should pirates make a holiday at your expense?"

Despite the enthusiasm of vendors, some users are not convinced about the virtues of USB tokens.

"I don't trust these dongles, because there are always cracks [software to hack keys]--you can download them," says Ralf Wolff-Boenisch, managing director of Kaiserwetter GmbH, a marketing and communications company.

His bad opinion of the devices resulted in part from his experience with software packages protected with tokens, including versions of Quark's QuarkXPress page layout program for Macintosh machines.

"I don't like being forced to put a dongle into my system, into my hardware," he says. "I've had driver problems, incompatibility, and with the first couple of generations a lot of crashes. It's a bit slow, too, because the system has to find the dongle. And if you lose the dongle, everything's lost."

Combination Devices

Variations on the USB token theme seek to appease some critics, by offering the convenient size of a token but the greater flexibility of a card reader. One such device, a tiny card reader measuring about 2.4 inches, plugs into a USB port and has a fold-out arm to guide the card into a reader slot; it is offered by Eutron SpA of Treviolo, Italy.

"It's the world's first patented, pocket smartcard reader," says William Owen, the company's business development manager for the U.K. and Ireland, who demonstrated the device for a reporter here, adding that it has won Italy's 2001 Smau Industrial Design Award. The device, introduced earlier this year, "can cost as little as in the single figures," he says.

An almost identical device, the CardMan Dongle from Omnikey, also won a design award at December's European Information Society Technologies Conference, says Uwe Schnabel, managing partner at the Wiesbaden, Germany-based company. The device, sold to original equipment manufacturers, costs between $15 and $16 in quantities of 1,000, he says.

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