Patent ID: 7751568

Claim:
A method for securely creating an endorsement certificate for a device in an insecure environment, said method comprising: generating for a valid device an endorsement key pair that includes a private key and a public key, wherein said private key is not public readable; creating a non-public, signing key pair that is injected into a plurality of valid devices, wherein the signing key pair is a first signing key pair that is provided to a first set of said plurality of valid devices and a second set of said plurality of valid devices are provided a second signing key pair, based on a pre-defined method for determining when to switch from utilizing said first signing key pair to utilizing said second signing key pair, said pre-defined method selected from among: expiration of a preset amount of device manufacturing time; and manufacture of a preset number of devices from the plurality of valid devices; verifying at a credential server that an endorsement key of a requesting device is a valid endorsement key generated during manufacture of said valid device by confirming a signature of said endorsement key is a public signing key of said signing key pair, wherein said credential server includes secure identification data of said non-public, signing key pair; and inserting an endorsement certificate into said device to indicate that said device is an approved device by an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) of the device only when said endorsement key is confirmed having been generated from within a valid device; wherein said signing key pair is a single-use parameter, said method further comprising immediately destroying said signing key pair within said device following a creation of said EK.