METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTHENTICATING EMBEDDED SOFTWARE IN A REMOTE UNIT OVER A COMMUNICATIONS CHANNEL

摘要

A method, apparatus, and computer program product for authenticating embedded software in the memory of a responder over an unprotected channel. The method includes the steps of transmitting a verify request and a unique nonce form a challenger to the responder over the unprotected channel; processing the embedded software and the nonce using a cryptographic hash function to produce a hash digest, wherein the embedded software includes a unique identifier; transmitting the hash digest to the challenger; processing a copy of the embedded software and the nonce using the cryptographic hash function to produce a verification hash digest; and authenticating the embedded software when the received hash digest and the verification hash digest match.