Patent ID: 8566572

Claim:
A method of masking an end-of-life transition of an electronic device comprising a microprocessor, RAM, ROM, a reprogrammable non-volatile memory containing a value of end-of-life state variable of the electronic device controlled by a control module, and an input/output port, the method comprising, on booting of the electronic device, at least the steps of: storing in RAM the value of said end-of-life state variable RAM from said non-volatile memory; and prior to executing any current command by said microprocessor; verifying whether the value of said end-of-life state variable stored in RAM is false; and, if said verification gives a negative response; executing end-of-life transition operations for the electronic device; else, with the value of said end-of-life state variable stored in RAM being false; continuing with initialization or execution of the current command by the microprocessor of the electronic device; and, on detecting an intrusive attack, instantiating by writing the value TRUE to said end-of-life state variable of the electronic device in RAM only and continuing the initialization and/or execution of the current command; and deferring writing of the value TRUE to the end-of-life state variable in said non-volatile memory so as to perform said write operation as a replacement for the next operation of writing to non-volatile memory in the command, thereby enabling the writing of said end-of-life state variable to be masked.