Patent ID: 8302181

Claim:
An image reading apparatus, comprising: an acquiring unit for acquiring user-identification information for identifying a user; and a tamper-resistant chip including a storing unit that stores therein a secret key that is unique to the image reading apparatus; valid-user identification information for identifying a valid user who is permitted to operate the image reading apparatus; apparatus-specific information that is unique to the image reading apparatus; and apparatus environment information including (i) an operating parameter, including at least one of resolution, color/monochrome, document size, or contrast, for an operation of the image reading apparatus and (ii) operating-log information including contents of the operation, wherein the operation described by the operating parameter is not a user-authentication operation; a collecting unit for collecting apparatus-specific information and apparatus environment information; a user-authentication unit for performing authentication of the user by determining whether the acquired user-identification information is correct based on the stored valid-user identification information; an apparatus-authentication unit for performing authentication of the image reading apparatus by determining whether the collected apparatus-specific information is correct based on the stored apparatus-specific information; an environment-authentication unit for performing authentication of an apparatus environment of the image reading apparatus by determining whether any one or both of the collected operating parameter and the collected operating-log information are correct based on the stored operating parameter and the stored operating-log information; and an encrypting unit for encrypting information with the stored secret key.