DEVICE, SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR INDENTIFYING AND AUTHENTICATING A CELLULAR DEVICE USING A SHORT-RANGE RADIO ADDRESS

A device, method, system and computer readable medium allows for using a short-range address, such as a Bluetooth™ address, to identify a cellular device and authenticate cellular messages to the cellular device. In an embodiment of the present invention, a first short-range radio address for a cellular device is stored in a processing device, such as a server coupled to a cellular network. An authentication message is obtained by the processing device. A second short-range radio address is stored in the cellular device. A first message digest is calculated responsive to the authentication message and first short-range radio address. A cellular message, including the authentication message and the first message digest, is transmitted to the cellular device. The cellular device receives the cellular message and calculates a second message digest responsive to the authentication message and the second short-range radio address stored in the cellular device. The cellular device authenticates the cellular message responsive to comparing the first message digest to a second message digest. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a processing device compares a second digest message from a cellular device and a first digest message calculated by the processing device in order authenticate the cellular message. In still a further embodiment of the present invention, a short-range radio address is used to encrypt and decrypt cellular messages.