Dongle

A dongle (center, in white) allowing an ethernet cable (left, in grey) to be connected to a Thunderbolt port on a laptop (right).

A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.[1]

In computing, the term was initially synonymous with software protection dongles—a form of hardware digital rights management in which a piece of software will only operate if a specified dongle—which typically contains a license key or some other cryptographic protection mechanism—is plugged into the computer while it is running.

The term has since been applied to other forms of devices with a similar form factor, such as:

  1. ^ Watson, David Lilburn; Jones, Andrew (2013-08-30). Digital Forensics Processing and Procedures: Meeting the Requirements of ISO 17020, ISO 17025, ISO 27001 and Best Practice Requirements. Newnes. ISBN 9781597497459.
  2. ^ Lee, Dave (2016-11-07). "Discussing the dongles". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-04-21.