Abstract:
A method, apparatus and system for restricting the use of a data item (PBK1) stored within a circuit (3), the method comprising the steps of: - receiving and storing the data item in the circuit (3); - receiving a signature (201), the signature (201) being derived from data in a data item field (hash of PBK1=H(PBK1)-207) and data in one or more value fields (VCC 203, STC 205), the signature (201) being in a (RSA) coded form generated according to a predetermined algorithm (RSA): - decoding the signature (201) and extracting information representative of the data H(PBJ1) in the data item field (207) and information representative of the values VCC & STC in the one or more value fields (203, 205); - determining whether the information representative of the data extracted from the data item field (207) of the signature (201) corresponds to a predetermined value stored in the circuit (3) and whether the information representative of each value extracted from each value field (203,205) of the signature (201) corresponds to a corresponding further predetermined value stored in the circuit (3); and - generating a comparison signal according to the result of the determinations; in which use of the data item (PBK1) is restricted according to the state of the comparison signal.