Exposure of a security mechanism, over time and/or in particular markets, increases the likelihood that the security mechanism will be compromised. A security dongle, however, can resist/delay being comprised by compounding one or more security techniques with the security dongle security mechanism (e.g., a unique identifier of the dongle stored in a secure area of the dongle, a cryptographic token with a private key that cannot be retrieved from the memory of the security dongle, etc.). A dynamic element (e.g., a changing key) and/or an unexposed element (e.g., a private key secured by an owner) can be used in conjunction with a security dongle to buttress against being compromised. Using the dynamic element and/or the unexposed element, the security dongle can be cryptographically bound to at least an identifier of a piece of software enabled by the security dongle.