Securely recognizing mobile devices

A computer program product for recognizing a mobile device, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code executable by a processor to perform an operation comprising:
• receiving, from one of a plurality of stations, a message which includes at least a random number and a first hash value of the random number concatenated with a first key;
• comparing the first hash value to one or more second hash values, wherein each second hash value is generated by hashing the random number concatenated with one of a plurality of second keys and wherein each second key corresponds to a registered device;
• upon determining the first hash value matches one of the second hash values, recognizing the mobile device based on the corresponding second key;
• and
• based on the location of the station which sent the message, assigning a location to the registered mobile device.

A system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory hosting a program, which, when executed by the processors, performs an operation to recognize a mobile device, the operation comprising:
• receiving, from one of a plurality of stations, a message which includes at least a random number and a first hash value of the random number concatenated with a first key;
• comparing the first hash value to one or more second hash values, wherein each second hash value is generated by hashing the random number concatenated with one of a plurality of second keys and wherein each second key corresponds to a registered device;
• upon determining the first hash value matches one of the second hash values, recognizing the mobile device based on the corresponding second key;
• and
• based on the location of the station which sent the message, assigning a location to the registered mobile device.