Patent ID: 7917760

Claim:
A method for securely loading a software module over a communications network from a software provider (SP) onto a tamper resistant module (TRM), said method comprising the steps of: the SP: encrypting, using at least one transport key, at least one portion of the software module, each said portion having an indication of location of said portion; encrypting each transport key and each indication using an asymmetric TRM public key, thereby forming a key transformation unit (KTU), said TRM public key having a corresponding TRM private key, said TRM public key and corresponding TRM private key being certified by a first certification authority (CA- 1 ); digitally signing the encrypted portion(s) with at least one asymmetric SP private key, each said SP private key having a corresponding SP public key, to produce a signed software module, each SP public key being certified by a second certification authority (CA- 2 ), CA- 2 being different than CA- 1 ; and transmitting the portion(s), the KTU, and the signed software module to the TRM over the communications network; and the TRM: recovering the transport key(s) and the indication(s) by decrypting the KTU using the TRM private key; identifying the portion(s) using the recovered indication(s); verifying the certified SP public key using the public key of CA- 2 ; authenticating the portion(s) using the certified SP public key; and decrypting the portion(s) using the recovered transport key(s).