Patent ID: 7774824

Claim:
A method for authentication, comprising: scanning an electronic system with an agent at the electronic system for compliance with an access security policy to produce a compliance scan result, the result including information identifying an aspect of one or more applications to be executed on the electronic system, the result further indicating a level of compliance of the electronic device with the policy, and a timestamp to indicate a time when the level of compliance was determined, where scanning is performed from a pre-operating system mode of platform operation, prior to loading an operating system; storing the compliance scan result in a non-volatile storage at the electronic system as a known-good result; presenting the compliance scan result and an attestation code as a single credential message from the agent at the electronic system to be authenticated to an authenticator for authentication of the electronic system, where the compliance scan result is the stored known-good result, and where the single credential is used to authenticate the electronic system; and receiving an access assignment having an access granted that is based at least in part on validity of the attestation code and the compliance scan result, including basing the access assignment on the timestamp of the compliance scan result, wherein the access assignment is a remediation access assignment if the compliance scan result indicates the electronic system is not in compliance with the policy.