Patent ID: 9742561
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. A method for authentication of a computing device having a copy of its operating system stored in a protected location over a network on which an authentication server is listening, comprising the steps of: dividing a secret, at the computing device, into a first share and a second share; destroying the secret after the dividing step; transmitting the second share not using the network, together with a unique identifier, to a pre-designated location; erasing, after the transmitting, the second share from the computing device; storing the first share at the computing device; broadcasting the unique identifier over the network; receiving the second share over the network from the authentication server; and reconstructing the secret using the received second share and the stored first share; accessing, using the reconstructed secret, the protected location and obtaining the copy of the operating system; and booting the computing device with the obtained copy of the operating system.