System for binding secrets to a computer system having tolerance for hardware changes

A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions to execute a method of generating a strong hardware identification (SHWID) on a first computer system having a first hardware configuration, wherein the method comprises:

• identifying each component class within the first hardware configuration, wherein
• the number of component classes is equal to n;
• determining a class product, cp, for each component class, wherein the
• class product, cp, for each component class is determined by the following steps:
• choosing the number of component classes n;
• identifying the n component classes;
• identifying all instances within each component class;
• assigning an identification string for each component instance;
• generating instance primes, pp,q, for each component instance, wherein each instance prime is a positive prime number, and wherein p represents a given component class number ranging from 1 to n, and q represents the q-th type of component within the first hardware configuration;
• and
• multiplying the instance primes within each component class to form class
• product, cp, for each component class;
• determining a partial secret, Pp, for each component class;
• and
• adding the class product, Cp, and the partial secret, Pp, for each component class
• to form n strong class IDs,
• wherein the n strong class IDs in combination form the strong hardware
• identification (SHWID) of the first computer system.

A computing system containing at least one application module usable on the computing system, wherein the at least one application module comprises application code to execute a method of generating a strong hardware identification (SHWID) on a first computer system having a first hardware configuration, wherein the method comprises:

• identifying each component class within the first hardware configuration, wherein
• the number of component classes is equal to n;
• determining a class product, cp, for each component class wherein the
• class product, cp, for each component class is determined by the following steps:
• choosing the number of component classes n;
• identifying the n component classes;
• identifying all instances within each component class;
• assigning an identification string for each component instance;
• generating instance primes, pp,q, for each component instance, wherein each instance prime is a positive prime number, and wherein p represents a given component class number ranging from 1 to n, and q represents the q-th type of component within the first hardware configuration;
• and
• multiplying the instance primes within each component class to form class
• product, cp, for each component class;
• determining a partial secret, Pp, for each component class;
• and
• adding the class product, Cp, and the partial secret, Pp, for each
• component class to form n strong class IDs,
• wherein the n strong class IDs in combination form the strong hardware identification (SHWID) of the first computer system.