A method of verifying a genuineness of a questioned device, the method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising: reading an identification code from a data storage area (28, 128) situated on a substrate (24, 124) of a security tag comprising a substrate (24, 124) affixed to the questioned device, wherein the identification code comprises: a checksum data segment; a data string comprising data that is representative of a serial number of the questioned device and at least one of: a style number of the questioned device; a date code of the questioned device; a geographical region where the questioned device can be sold; a website address related to the questioned device; a telephone number for service related to the questioned device; an email for service related to the questioned device; a number of sensor attributes of the questioned device; and an engineering design revision number of the questioned device; the identification code further comprising: a signature code based, at least in part, on the data string and a private key, the private key contemporaneously generated, by an asymmetric key generation algorithm, with a public key corresponding with the private key; subjecting at least the data string and the signature code to a checksum operation and using the checksum data segment to detect whether an error occurred in at least one of: communication of the identification code to the security tag, and storage of the identification code on the security tag; subsequent to the subjecting of at least the data string and the signature code to the checksum operation, subjecting the data string to a hash operation to result in a message digest; subjecting the signature code to a decryption operation using the public key to result in another message digest; responsive to a determination that the message digest and the another message digest are the same, verifying the questioned device as being genuine; and responsive to a determination that the message digest and the another message digest are not the same, identifying the questioned device as being other than genuine. a checksum data segment; a data string comprising data that is representative of a serial number of the questioned device and at least one of: a style number of the questioned device; a date code of the questioned device; a geographical region where the questioned device can be sold; a website address related to the questioned device; a telephone number for service related to the questioned device; an email for service related to the questioned device; a number of sensor attributes of the questioned device; and an engineering design revision number of the questioned device; the identification code further comprising: a signature code based, at least in part, on the data string and a private key, the private key contemporaneously generated, by an asymmetric key generation algorithm, with a public key corresponding with the private key; a style number of the questioned device; a date code of the questioned device; a geographical region where the questioned device can be sold; a website address related to the questioned device; a telephone number for service related to the questioned device; an email for service related to the questioned device; a number of sensor attributes of the questioned device; and an engineering design revision number of the questioned device; the identification code further comprising: a signature code based, at least in part, on the data string and a private key, the private key contemporaneously generated, by an asymmetric key generation algorithm, with a public key corresponding with the private key; subjecting at least the data string and the signature code to a checksum operation and using the checksum data segment to detect whether an error occurred in at least one of: communication of the identification code to the security tag, and storage of the identification code on the security tag; communication of the identification code to the security tag, and storage of the identification code on the security tag; subsequent to the subjecting of at least the data string and the signature code to the checksum operation, subjecting the data string to a hash operation to result in a message digest; subjecting the signature code to a decryption operation using the public key to result in another message digest; responsive to a determination that the message digest and the another message digest are the same, verifying the questioned device as being genuine; and responsive to a determination that the message digest and the another message digest are not the same, identifying the questioned device as being other than genuine.