Authorized operations in electronic systems

A computer program comprising computer program code to, when loaded into a non-transitory computer system and executed thereon, cause said computer system to:

• receive at an arbitrator an authorization request to perform an operation on at least one remote electronic device, said operation requiring authorization;
• retrieve from said request an identifier of said operation and at least one plaintext data item;
• send by said arbitrator a human-readable request message to an authorizer, said human-readable request message comprising at least said identifier and said at least one plaintext data item;
• receive a reply message from an address of an authorizer, said reply message comprising at least said plaintext data item and a verifiable cryptographic signature derived from said request message and identifying said authorizer;
• and
• responsive to receiving said reply message, send by said arbitrator a request message to request performance of said operation to said remote electronic device with an authorization derived from at least said cryptographic signature, said cryptographic signature being suitable to be further verified by a cryptographic signature verification component on said at least one remote electronic device.

An electronic data processing system adapted to communicate with at least one arbiter to authorize an operation on at least one remote electronic device equipped with a cryptographic signature verification component, said at least one remote electronic device being operable in a communications network having human-readable messages with message signatures, comprising:

• electronic logic to receive at an arbitrator an authorization request to perform an operation on said at least one remote electronic device, said operation requiring authorization;
• electronic logic to retrieve from said request an identifier of said operation and at least one plaintext data item;
• electronic logic to send by said arbitrator a human-readable request message to an authorizer, said human-readable request message comprising at least said identifier and said at least one plaintext data item;
• electronic logic to receive by said arbitrator a reply message from an address of an authorizer, said reply message comprising at least said plaintext data item and a verifiable cryptographic signature derived from said request message and identifying said authorizer;
• and
• electronic logic, responsive to receiving said reply message, to send by said arbitrator a request message to request performance of said operation to said remote electronic device with an authorization derived from at least said cryptographic signature, said cryptographic signature being suitable to be further verified by said cryptographic signature verification component on said at least one remote electronic device.