A trusted component on a device includes a secure HWID therein and is verified by obtaining a key from the device, and verifying each signed component of the operating system of the device therewith. A driver table is examined to locate a HWID driver which is verified as containing a pointer back to an address inside a kernel. The verified operating system is called to obtain the secure HWID from a HWID component by way of the HWID driver and to return same to the trusted component. Thereafter, the returned HWID is verified as matching the HWID included with the trusted component.