Patent ID: 7797544

Claim:
A method of establishing trust between a first computer entity and a server, the method comprising: the first computer entity seeking a granting of trust from the server by sending an inquiry in the form of a can-attest message to the server, the can-attest message stating that the first computer entity can send an attestation message but that the first computer entity would like to know from the server whether such an attestation message is required, and if so any requirements that such server has with regard to such attestation message; and the server sending an attestation-wanted message to the first computer entity in response to the can-attest message, the attestation-wanted message stating that the server does in fact require an attestation message from the first computer entity and that the attestation message as sent by the first computer entity must adhere to certain requirements as defined in such attestation-wanted message, one of the certain requirements being that the attestation message is to include a code identifier (code ID) associated with the first computer entity and calculated by using a security ID associated with the first computer entity, the security ID including security information relating to the first computer entity, the security information being expressed as a number of name-value security attribute parameters, the first computer entity being an executable and referring to the parameters in the security information in the security ID to determine whether particular security behavior is allowed, the code identifier (code ID) being representative of the first computer entity and calculated as a one-way hash of a combination of the executable of the first computer entity and the security ID so that modification of the security information in the security ID causes the calculated code ID to change and the server can interpret the change as an indication that the first computer entity should not be trusted.