Method and apparatus for using imperfections in computing devices for device authentication

1. A method encoded on a data storage medium as executable software for authenticating a computing device, the method comprising steps of:

querying an unidentified computing device with a data processing instruction known to induce a unique failure condition on another computing device;

obtaining a measurement from the unidentified computing device in response to the querying step, the measurement based on a failure condition induced on the unidentified computing device by the data processing instruction;

comparing the measurement to a stored measurement, the stored measurement based on the unique failure condition induced by the data processing instruction on the other computing device; and

verifying, based on the comparing step, whether the unidentified computing device matches the other computing device;

the steps performed by a processor identification system executing the software.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting the processing instruction from a plurality of processing instructions.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying step further comprises:

querying the unidentified computing device with the processing instruction a plurality of times;

wherein the obtaining step further comprises obtaining a measurement from the unidentified computing device each time the unidentified computing device is queried;

wherein the comparing step further comprises comparing each measurement to the unique failure condition; and

wherein the verifying step further comprises verifying whether the unidentified computing device is the particular computing device based on an expected number of occurrences of the unique failure condition.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying step further comprises:

querying the unidentified computing device with the processing instruction a plurality of times;

wherein the obtaining step further comprises obtaining a measurement from the unidentified computing device each time the unidentified computing device is queried;

wherein the comparing step further comprises comparing each measurement to the unique failure condition; and

wherein the verifying step further comprises verifying whether the unidentified computing device is the particular computing device based on how many times the querying step is executed before the comparing step matches a measurement to the unique failure condition.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the querying step further comprises:

querying the unidentified computing device with the processing instruction a plurality of times;

wherein the obtaining step further comprises obtaining a measurement from the unidentified computing device each time the unidentified computing device is queried;

wherein the comparing step further comprises comparing each measurement to the unique failure condition; and

wherein the verifying step further comprises verifying whether the unidentified computing device is the particular computing device based on how many times the comparing step matches a measurement to the unique failure condition.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a processor.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a digital storage device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement is based on time.

9. An apparatus for authenticating a device comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to cause the processor to execute a method comprising steps of:

querying an unidentified computing device with a data processing instruction known to induce a unique failure condition on another computing device;

obtaining a measurement from the unidentified computing device in response to the querying step, the measurement based on a failure condition induced on the unidentified computing device by the data processing instruction;

comparing the measurement to a stored measurement, the stored measurement based on the unique failure condition induced by the data processing instruction on the other computing device; and

verifying, based on the comparing step, whether the unidentified computing device matches the other computing device.

10. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a processor to perform a method for authenticating an unidentified device, the method comprising steps of:

querying the unidentified device with a data processing instruction known to induce a unique failure condition on another computing device;

obtaining a measurement from the unidentified device in response to the querying step, the measurement based on a failure condition induced on the unidentified computing device by the data processing instruction;

comparing the measurement to a stored measurement, the stored measurement based on the unique failure condition induced by the data processing instruction on the other computing device; and

verifying, based on the comparing step, whether the unidentified device matches the other computing device.

11. A method for determining unique identity for a computing device, comprising steps of:

running on the computing device a computational process executable by the computing device;

evaluating a response of the computing device to the computational process;

determining a failure condition resulting from the evaluating step;

verifying repeatability of the failure condition;

comparing the failure condition to known failure conditions that resulted from other computing devices that ran the computational process; and

defining a device identity token for the computing device based on the failure condition if the comparing step determines that the failure condition is unique.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the verifying step comprises repeating the running, evaluating, and determining steps a number of times, comparing results of the determining steps, and verifying repeatability if the results are identical.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the verifying step comprises repeating the running, evaluating, and determining steps a number of times, comparing results of the determining steps, and verifying repeatability if the failure condition occurs according to a predictable frequency.