Patent ID: 7571329

Claim:
A method comprising: obtaining a unique value associated with a device of a processing system, via the unique value the device is identifiable; and securely storing the unique value in the processing system without exposing outside the device a unique identifier of the device, wherein securely storing the unique value comprises generating an encryption key based at least in part on a secret value securely stored in the device; generating an initialization vector having a plurality of pseudo-randomly or randomly generated bits; encrypting the unique value associated with the device using both the encryption key and the initialization vector as inputs to form an encrypted data structure; storing the encrypted data structure in a memory of the processing system that is external to the device; and periodically replacing the encrypted data structure with a modified encrypted data structure formed from encrypting the unique value using both the encryption key and a new initialization vector having a plurality of pseudo-randomly or randomly generated bits, wherein periodically replacing the encrypted data structure occurs every N accesses of the unique value by the device, where N is a positive integer.