Patent ID: 8191123

Claim:
A computer implemented method, comprising: receiving a user login at a network appliance; and initializing the network appliance without user input in response to receiving the user login, the initializing comprising: determining that the network appliance is not initialized; generating a provisionally unique identifier from the network appliance for identifying the network appliance; generating, by the network appliance, a digital certificate signing request (CSR); sending a message to a service provider, the message comprising the CSR, the provisionally unique identifier, time information associated with the CSR and information about the user login; receiving a signed certificate from the service provider at the network appliance, wherein the signed certificate was generated in response to the message having been evaluated to determine whether the provisionally unique identifier is unique to the service provider and whether the time information indicates that the message was received within a predetermined time period; and initializing the network appliance using the received signed certificate.