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

Claim 14:
15. A requesting device for requesting a digital certificate, the requesting device comprising:
a first unit having a hardware processor configured to transmit a challenge request to and receive challenge information comprising a cryptographic challenge from an issuing device;
a second unit having a hardware processor configured to create, using a private key of a cryptographic key pair, a cryptographic response to the cryptographic challenge, the cryptographic response constituting a valid proof of ownership of a public key of the cryptographic key pair;
a third unit having a hardware processor configured to post the created cryptographic response to a ledger of a distributed database such that the posted cryptographic response is associated therein with counterparty identity information of the requesting device;
a fourth unit having a hardware processor configured to create a certification request comprising the public key and ownership information of the public key of the cryptographic key pair, wherein the ownership information comprises the counterparty identity information of the requesting device; and
a fifth unit having a hardware processor configured to transmit the certification request to and receive an issued digital certificate certifying the ownership information of the public key from the issuing device,
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.