Patent ID: 8918897

Claim:
A method for execution by one or more processing devices of a computing device, the method comprises: issuing, by the one or more processing devices of the computing device, a retrieval request; in response to the retrieval request, receiving at least a threshold number of double appended encoded data slices to storage units, wherein a double appended encoded data slice of the at least the threshold number of double appended encoded data slices includes an encoded data slice of a set of encoded data slices, a secret share of a set of secret shares, and an authentication code of a set of authentication codes; separating the at least the threshold number of double appended encoded data slices into at least a threshold number of secret shares and at least a threshold number of appended encoded data slices; decoding at least one of the at least the threshold number of secret shares in accordance with a secret share function to recapture a message authentication key; for each of the threshold number of appended encoded data slices, verifying the authentication code based on the message authentication key and the encoded data slice; and when the authentication codes are verified for the at least the threshold number of appended encoded data slices, decoding the encoded data slices of the at least the threshold number of appended encoded data slices in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function to recapture a data segment.