Patent ID: 8117452

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a dedicated appliance comprising a telephone having a plurality of buttons, the dedicated appliance operable to: in response to receiving a provisioning request from a user of the dedicated appliance, monitor a designated port of the dedicated appliance for an initial connection request from a particular computing platform; generate a random numeric string or an alphanumeric string; receive a connection request; if the connection request is from the particular computing platform, complete a connection between the dedicated appliance and the computing platform; display the random numeric string or the alphanumeric string at the dedicated appliance to enable a user to enter the random numeric string or the alphanumeric string at the computing platform; calculate a key derived from the random numeric string or the alphanumeric string using a key derivation process; wait for a first credential packet from the computing platform before securing the connection between the dedicated appliance and the computing platform, the first credential packet comprising an element calculated using the random numeric string or the alphanumeric string transferred by the user, the first credential packet further comprising a public key of the computing platform; if the first credential packet is received from the computing platform, check the validity of the first credential packet by using the calculated key and the first credential packet; create a second credential packet comprising a second element; transmit the second credential packet to the computing platform; wait for a confirmation packet from the computing platform; if the confirmation packet fails to arrive within a specified time period, discard the first credential packet; and if the first credential packet and the second element are valid and the confirmation packet arrives within the specified time period, install the first credential packet in a certificate storage data structure for use in securing the connection between the dedicated appliance and the computing platform.