At least one machine accessible medium having instructions stored thereon for authenticating a hardware device is provided. When executed by a processor, the instructions cause the processor to receive two or more device keys from a physically unclonable function (PUF) on the hardware device, generate a device identifier from the two or more device keys, obtain a device certificate from the hardware device, perform a verification of the device identifier, and provide a result of the device identifier verification. In a more specific embodiment, the instructions cause the processor to perform a verification of a digital signature in the device certificate and to provide a result of the digital signature verification. The hardware device may be rejected if at least one of the device identifier verification and the digital signature verification fails.