Patent ID: 8046579

Claim:
A system for authenticating postal devices, comprising: a postal device including a device processor coupled to a device memory storing a device private key, a first device certificate, and a first server certificate, the first device certificate comprising a device public key and a digital signature of the device public key based upon a first server private key, the first server certificate comprising a first server public key and a digital signature thereof based upon a root private key; a first server including a first processor coupled to a first memory storing the first server private key and the first server certificate; a root server including a root processor coupled to a root memory storing the root private key and a root certificate comprising a root public key; a second server providing functionality to said postal device redundant to functionality provided by said first server, said second server including a second processor coupled to a second memory storing a second server private key, a second server certificate comprising a second server public key and a digital signature thereof based upon the root private key and instructions configured to be executed by the second processor to receive from the postal device at the second server the first device certificate and the first server certificate, authenticate the first device certificate using the first server certificate, authenticate the first server certificate using the root certificate and send a second device certificate to the postal device, each of said first server and said second server being configured to service said postal device while said postal device is in an operational state, the system configured not to replicate data between said first server and said second server.