Patent ID: 8689355

Claim:
A method of transferring a set of secrets to a target machine, comprising: receiving a target machine identifier which identifies a particular characteristic of the target machine; based on the target machine identifier, generating a secure file on a source machine, the secure file (i) storing the set of secrets in an encrypted form and (ii) being constructed and arranged to provide access to a particular secret of the set of secrets in non-encrypted form on a machine identified while in the presence of the particular characteristic of the target machine; delivering the secure file directly from the source machine to the target machine to enable the target machine to access the particular secret in non-encrypted form; wherein a particular characteristic of the target machine identified by the target machine identifier includes an expected hostname of the target machine; and wherein generating the secure file on the source machine includes: providing, as the secure file, an electronic file which is configured to (i) expose the particular secret in non-encrypted form when an actual hostname acquired during an attempt to access the particular secret in non-encrypted form matches the expected hostname of the target machine, and (ii) refrain from exposing the particular secret in non-encrypted form when the actual hostname acquired during an attempt to access the particular secret in non-encrypted form does not match the expected hostname of the target machine.