A method and a processing device are provided for detecting a hardware-based virtual machine environment. An execution time of a privileged instruction may be measured and an execution time of a nonprivileged instruction may be measured. The execution time of the privileged instruction may be compared with the execution time of the nonprivileged instruction. When the execution time of the privileged instruction exceeds the execution time of the nonprivileged instruction by at least a threshold or a threshold factor, then a hardware-based virtual machine environment is detected. In some embodiments, a well-known technique for detecting a software-based virtual machine environment may be used in conjunction with a technique for detecting a hardware-based virtual machine environment. A licensing policy of a software product may be accessed and the software product may be prevented from executing when a detected machine environment is in violation of the licensing policy.