Patent ID: 7827397

Claim:
An electronic gaming machine (EGM) comprising: a memory storing boot program code comprising first code, second code and third code; a central processing unit (CPU) arranged to access the memory and initiate a boot process by reading the first code from the memory; and a monitoring device having or with access to validation code and arranged to take at least one protective action if the first code does not match the validation code, wherein the first code comprises a hash algorithm and a pre-calculated hash of the second code, the first code being arranged such that when the CPU executes the first code, the CPU calculates a hash of the second code and compares the calculated hash to the pre-calculated hash and proceeds if the hashes match; and wherein the third code comprises a master private key signature of a pre-calculated hash of the third code, and the second code comprises a master public key and a decryption algorithm, the second code being arranged such that when executed by the CPU, the CPU calculates a hash of the third code, decrypts the signature with the master public key to obtain the pre-calculated hash, compares the two hashes and proceeds if the hashes match.