Patent ID: 7664965

Claim:
A method for using trusted platform modules within a data processing system, wherein a trusted platform in the data processing system comprises at least one non-volatile memory, the method comprising: (a) reading secret data stored within the trusted platform in the data processing system using a hypervisor executing on the data processing system; (b) requesting a trusted platform module in the data processing system to encrypt a copy of the secret data to generate an encrypted secret data value; (c) storing the previously generated encrypted secret data value within the non-volatile memory within the trusted platform; (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for each trusted platform module within the data processing system to generate multiple stored encrypted secret data values, wherein each stored encrypted secret data value is associated with the trusted platform module that generated it; (e) retrieving the encrypted secret data value from the non-volatile memory; (f) requesting decryption of the retrieved encrypted secret data value from the trusted platform module that generated the retrieved encrypted secret data value in order to generate a decrypted secret data value; (g) repeating steps (e) and (f) for each trusted platform module within the data processing system; (h) comparing the decrypted secret data values; and (i) identifying zero or more defective trusted platform modules based on the comparison of the decrypted secret data values.