Information processing system, program product, and information processing method

A system comprising:

• means for activating a boot block that contains a first public key;
• means for verifying a system Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) that contains a second public key and a first digital signature, the verifying being performed by confirming that the first and second public keys match;
• means for, in response to a determination that the first and second public keys match, activating the BIOS and loading a system image to a real device;
• means for verifying the system image by confirming that the first digital signature that is stored in the system BIOS matches a second digital signature that is stored in a mass storage device;
• means for, in response to the first and second digital signatures matching, creating a virtual mass storage device;
• means for transferring control of the virtual mass storage device to a boot strap code in an operating system image;
• and
• means for booting the operating system image from the virtual mass storage device.

A machine-readable medium having a plurality of instructions processable by a machine embodied therein, wherein the plurality of instructions, when processed by the machine, causes the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

• activating a boot block that contains a first public key;
• verifying a system Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) that contains a second public key and a first digital signature, the verifying being performed by confirming that the first and second public keys match;
• in response to a determination that the first and second public keys match, activating the BIOS and loading a system image to a real device;
• verifying the system image by confirming that the first digital signature that is stored in the system BIOS matches a second digital signature that is stored in a mass storage device;
• in response to the first and second digital signatures matching, creating a virtual mass storage device;
• transferring control of the virtual mass storage device to a boot strap code in an operating system image;
• and
• booting the operating system image from the virtual mass storage device.