A METHOD OF PROTECTING INDUSTRIAL DEVICE DIGITAL INFORMATION USING ASYMMETRIC ENCRYPTION FOR SECURE DATA TRANSFER TO A DIGITAL ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIAL DEVICE

A method of protecting industrial device digital information using asymmetric encryption for secure data transfer to a digital electronic industrial device, said method comprising the steps of a) using an asymmetric encryption algorithm to generate a public key and a private key for use in, respectively, encrypting and decrypting a data encryption key; b) storing the private key in the digital electronic industrial device; c) distributing the public key to a remote computer; d) generating a data encryption key on the remote computer; e) encrypting the industrial device digital information into ciphertext using the data encryption key of the pre-defined digital electronic industrial device; f) encrypting the industrial device digital information key with the public key of the digital electronic industrial device; g) discarding the industrial device digital information encryption key; h) transferring the encrypted the industrial device digital information encryption key and the ciphertext to the digital electronic industrial device; i) using the private key to decrypt the encrypted industrial device digital information encryption key to produce the data encryption key; and j) decrypting the industrial device ciphertext into plaintext of the industrial device digital information that is usable by the digital electronic industrial device.