Importance

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Abstract

A computer system having a system memory and being arranged to permit a target program (90) installed on the system to be modified in a trusted manner. The system comprises a White-list Management Agent, WMA, module (10) for receiving, at a notification receiver (12), a notification that the target program (90) which is loaded into the system memory of the computer system has performed an update operation on the target program resulting in the generation and storage of a modified version of the target program on a storage device associated with the computer system. The WMA module is operable, upon receipt of a target program update notification, to determine if the program (90) as loaded into the system memory is in a trusted state by measuring the program (90) using a program measurer module (14) and comparing this, using a comparator (16), with a pre-stored value contained in a program whitelist (30), the pre-stored value being obtained from the program whitelist (30) using a whitelist reader/writer (18). If the determination is positive, the WMA module (10) generates a hash code of the modified version of the target computer program as stored on the storage device using the program measurer module (14) and stores this generated hash code as a new trusted hash code for the target program in the program whitelist (30), in order to permit subsequent verification of the modified version of the target program as being in a trusted state.

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First Claim