Patent ID: 7630495

Claim:
A method for protecting an electronic device which comprises an operational unit and a user-specific module and which is intended to communicate with a radio network, wherein both the identity data of the operational unit and the verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the service provider being protected with a key of the cryptographic method employed by the manufacturer of the operational unit, and the verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the manufacturer of the operational unit being stored in the operational unit of the electronic device; and both the identity data of the operational unit and the identity data of the service provider being protected with a key of the cryptographic method employed by the service provider; the method comprising verifying the identity data of the operational unit and the verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the service provider with a verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the manufacturer of the operational unit, and if the verification fails, the electronic device is at least blocked from connecting to the radio network; verifying both the identity data of the operational unit and the identity data of the service provider with the verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the service provider, which verification key is verified with the verification key of the cryptographic method employed by the manufacturer of the operational unit, and if the verification fails, the electronic device is at least blocked from connecting to the radio network; comparing the identity data of the operational unit and the identity data of the service provider stored in the user-specific module with the verified identity data of the operational unit and the verified identity data of the service provider; and if the identity data of the operational unit and the identity data of the service provider verified by the cryptographic method correspond with the identity data of the operational unit and the identity data of the service provider read from the user-specific module, the electronic device is started, otherwise the electronic is at least blocked from connecting to the radio network.