Patent ID: 8316229

Claim:
A method for loading a user CA certificate into a network device, comprising: downloading addressing information of a certificate server, wherein the addressing information is one of a domain name and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the certificate server, wherein downloading addressing information of a certificate server includes: identifying the certificate server based on a network provider associated with an existing certificate embedded in the network device, wherein the existing certificate is pre-stored in the network device; retrieving a bootstrapping digital certificate from the certificate server upon establishing a communication session with the certificate server based on the addressing information; verifying the bootstrapping digital certificate using the existing certificate embedded in the network device, wherein the verifying of the bootstrapping digital certificate includes recovering a public key of the certificate server from the bootstrapping digital certificate and engaging in a challenge/response communication session to verify that the certificate server has access to a private key of the certificate server; establishing a secure channel with the certificate server using the bootstrapping digital certificate; and downloading the user CA certificate from the certificate server.