Patent ID: 11917081
Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. An issuing device for issuing a digital certificate, the issuing device comprising:
a first entity comprising a hardware processor configured to respond to a challenge request received from a requesting device by transmitting challenge information comprising a cryptographic challenge to the requesting device; and
a second entity comprising a hardware processor configured to respond to a certification request received from the requesting device, the certification request comprising a public key and ownership information of the public key, by issuing the digital certificate certifying the ownership information of the public key,
wherein the ownership information comprises counterparty identity information relating to a ledger of a distributed database, and
wherein the second entity is further configured to issue the digital certificate under condition that the second entity successfully verifies that:
a cryptographic response to the cryptographic challenge has been posted to the ledger of the distributed database;
the cryptographic response is associated, in the ledger, with the counterparty identity information included in the ownership information of the certification request; and
the cryptographic response constitutes a valid proof of ownership of the public key,

wherein the digital certificate provides an owner of the public key administrative privileges to a server entity, and
wherein an attempt to access administrative privileges of the server entity is prevented when a digital footprint of a rogue digital certificate does not match with the digital certificate posted to the ledger of the distributed database.