SOFTWARE AUTHENTICATION

1 . A computing system, comprising:

a server configured to provide an authentication indicator to least one software application for enabling the software application to provide at least one computing feature, the authentication indicator being generated with a content of the authentication indicator based on at least two identifiers that are distinct from a hardware identifier of a device on which the software application is running.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least two identifiers are selected from

an Internet Protocol address of the device,

a domain name associated with the device,

a customer identifier associated with the device,

metadata associated with the device,

an Internet Protocol address associated with another application, and

a domain name associated with another application.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the device is part of a cloud computing system.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the application is running on at least one virtual machine instance on the device.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a plurality of computing devices.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the software application utilizes the authentication indicator for confirming that the software application is valid.

7 . The system of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of applications that communicate with each other, the at least one software application controlling communications with a second one of the applications based on whether the second one of the applications provides a valid authentication indicator.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the server is configured to:

provide the application with a key on a preselected schedule; and

verify an authenticity of the application based on whether the application provides a heartbeat message to the server that includes an indication based on the key.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein

each key provided by the server is different than a most recently provided key; and

the server provides an indication that the application is not authentic if the heartbeat message from the application does not include a proper indication based on the key.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the server is configured to generate at least some of the keys using a random number generation process.

11 . A computing method, comprising:

generating an authentication indicator having a content based on at least two identifiers that are distinct from a hardware identifier of a device on which a software application is running; and

providing the authentication indicator to the software application for enabling the software application to provide at least one computing feature.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least two identifiers are selected from

an Internet Protocol address of the device,

a domain name associated with the device,

a customer identifier associated with the device,

metadata associated with the device,

an Internet Protocol address associated with another application, and

a domain name associated with another application.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the device is part of a cloud computing system.

14 . The method of claim 13 , comprising running the software application on at least one virtual machine instance on the device.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the device comprises a plurality of computing devices.

16 . The method of claim 11 , comprising the software application using the authentication indicator for confirming that the software application is valid.

17 . The method of claim 11 , comprising

communicating between the at least one software application and at least a second application;

the at least one software application controlling communications with the second application based on whether the second application provides a valid authentication indicator; and

the second application controlling communications with the at least one software application based on whether the application provides a valid authentication indicator.

18 . The method of claim 11 , comprising:

providing the application with a key on a preselected schedule; and

verifying an authenticity of the application based on whether the application provides a heartbeat message to the server that includes an indication based on the key.

19 . The method of claim 18 , comprising

generating a new key that is different than a most recently provided key;

providing the new key to the application; and

providing an indication that the application is not authentic if the heartbeat message from the application does not include a proper indication of the provided new key.

20 . The method of claim 19 , comprising generating at least the new key using a random number generation process.

21 . The method of claim 11 , comprising

using a predetermined algorithm for generating the authentication indicator; and

using the two identifiers as an input to the predetermined algorithm.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the predetermined algorithm includes using a concatenation of the two identifiers.

23 . The method of claim 11 , wherein

at least a portion of the two identifiers are within the authentication indicator;

at least a portion of the two identifiers are used for the authentication indicator; or

the authentication indicator includes at least a portion of the two identifiers.

24 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein

the server is configured to use a predetermined algorithm for generating the authentication indicator; and

the server is configured to use the two identifiers as an input to the predetermined algorithm.

25 . The computing system of claim 24 , wherein the predetermined algorithm includes using a concatenation of the two identifiers.

26 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein

at least a portion of the two identifiers are within the authentication indicator;

at least a portion of the two identifiers are used for the authentication indicator; or

the authentication indicator includes at least a portion of the two identifiers.