A computing device, comprising: resources of the computing device, including hardware components and drivers or other software for controlling hardware components; and a validation agent programmed to: obtain a new configuration authentication request for the computing device; in response to obtaining the new configuration authentication request: identify the resources of the computing device, match an identifier of the computing device to a portion of validated configurations of a plurality of validated configurations stored in a persistent storage of the validation agent wherein the validated configurations each comprise a combination of hardware components and software components, said software components consisting of firmware, firmware settings, and/or software drivers, make a determination that the identified resources of the computing device match at least one validated configuration of the portion of validated configurations of the plurality of validated configurations; and authorize a new configuration for the resources of the computing device in response to the determination. resources of the computing device, including hardware components and drivers or other software for controlling hardware components; and a validation agent programmed to: obtain a new configuration authentication request for the computing device; in response to obtaining the new configuration authentication request: identify the resources of the computing device, match an identifier of the computing device to a portion of validated configurations of a plurality of validated configurations stored in a persistent storage of the validation agent wherein the validated configurations each comprise a combination of hardware components and software components, said software components consisting of firmware, firmware settings, and/or software drivers, make a determination that the identified resources of the computing device match at least one validated configuration of the portion of validated configurations of the plurality of validated configurations; and authorize a new configuration for the resources of the computing device in response to the determination. obtain a new configuration authentication request for the computing device; in response to obtaining the new configuration authentication request: identify the resources of the computing device, match an identifier of the computing device to a portion of validated configurations of a plurality of validated configurations stored in a persistent storage of the validation agent wherein the validated configurations each comprise a combination of hardware components and software components, said software components consisting of firmware, firmware settings, and/or software drivers, make a determination that the identified resources of the computing device match at least one validated configuration of the portion of validated configurations of the plurality of validated configurations; and authorize a new configuration for the resources of the computing device in response to the determination. identify the resources of the computing device, match an identifier of the computing device to a portion of validated configurations of a plurality of validated configurations stored in a persistent storage of the validation agent wherein the validated configurations each comprise a combination of hardware components and software components, said software components consisting of firmware, firmware settings, and/or software drivers, make a determination that the identified resources of the computing device match at least one validated configuration of the portion of validated configurations of the plurality of validated configurations; and authorize a new configuration for the resources of the computing device in response to the determination. <EOS>