Patent ID: 6957336

Claim:
A method of establishing an initial PuK-linked account database, the PuK-linked account database associated with a plurality of devices used to generate digital signatures, comprising the steps of, (a) maintaining the database in a secure environment, the secure environment existing outside of the plurality of devices and having a security rating, (b) for each one of the plurality of devices, which are manufactured in a secure manufacturing environment, (i) recording in the database (A) a public key of a public-private key pair of the manufactured device, and in association therewith, (B) a Security Profile of the manufactured device, wherein the Security Profile defines a security level of the manufactured device relative to other devices used to generate digital signature, the public key and Security Profile thereby being linked together, and wherein the security rating of the secure environment of the database is at least comparable to the security level of the manufactured device, and (ii) storing a private key of the public-private key pair within the manufactured device while the manufactured device is still within the secure manufacturing environment, the manufactured device using the private key to generate digital signatures, (c) distributing the manufactured devices from the secure manufacturing environment to a plurality of users, and (d) identifying the database records of said distributed devices as the initial PuK-linked account database of the users.