Apparatus, method, and program product for proof of work based authentication

A method at a first device, the method comprising:

• determining, by use of a processor, a set of computer-based attributes corresponding to the first device, wherein the set of computer-based attributes comprises at least one computer hardware attribute and at least one computer software attribute;
• computing a proof of work using the set of computer-based attributes as inputs into an algorithm used to compute the proof of work;
• transmitting the proof of work and the set of computer-based attributes to a second device for authentication based on the proof of work and the set of computer-based attributes;
• determining a change in the set of computer-based attributes;
• and
• computing an updated proof of work using the changed set of computer-based attributes at inputs into the algorithm used to compute the updated proof of work.

A program product of a first device comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:

• determining, by use of the processor, a set of computer-based attributes corresponding to the first device, wherein the set of computer-based attributes comprises at least one computer hardware attribute and at least one computer software attribute;
• computing a proof of work using the set of computer-based attributes as inputs into an algorithm used to compute the proof of work;
• transmitting the proof of work and the set of computer-based attributes to a second device for authentication based on the proof of work and the set of computer-based attributes;
• determining a change in the set of computer-based attributes;
• and
• computing an updated proof of work using the changed set of computer-based attributes at inputs into the algorithm used to compute the updated proof of work.