Patent ID: 7809949

Claim:
A method of securely configuring a computing device, the method comprising: receiving a configuration indication into the computing device, the configuration indication including a configuration file and an encrypted digest of the configuration file, the encrypted digest being formed by producing a digest of the configuration file and encrypting the digest, the configuration file including a unique identifier associated with the computing device; verifying that the received configuration indication is authentic including: generating a digest of the configuration file; decrypting the received encrypted digest; and comparing the generated digest with the decrypted digest; operating or interoperating with the computing device in accordance with the received configuration file when the generated digest and the decrypted digest match; and operating or interoperating with the computing device in accordance with a default configuration file of the computing device when the generated digest and the received decrypted digest do not match, wherein the computing device is configured to look in a first location for the configuration indication and the encrypted digest, and the computing device is configured to, if the configuration indication and the encrypted digest are unable to be properly processed from the first location, look in a second location for the configuration indication and the encrypted digest, and wherein the computing device is further configured to copy the configuration indication and the encrypted digest from the second location to the first location.