Patent ID: 8539587

Claim:
A method of providing evidence of a state of a computer platform, comprising: measuring a state of the computer platform, wherein measuring a state comprises a measurement of a first data structure in the computer platform, to provide a first measured state; using the first measured state in evidence of the state of the computer platform; replacing the first data structure with a second data structure in the computer platform; measuring the state of the computer platform with the first data structure replaced by the second data structure to provide a second measured state that includes a second measured state value; verifying that the second measured state is as trustworthy as the first measured state, wherein the verifying comprises determining whether a linked list of statements relates the first data structure to the second data structure, the statements comprising forward linking metrics, backward linking metrics, and a flag to indicate whether one of the forward linking metrics is an acceptable replacement for one of the backward linking metrics; and upon verifying that the second measured state is as trustworthy as the first measured state, substituting the second measured state for the first measured state in evidence of the state of the computer platform.