by the microprocessor 100 and compares the two passwords to generate a password match indicator 138 that has a true value if the two passwords match and a false value otherwise in one embodiment the generated password 146 is provided by an encryption engine 126 that generates the password 146 using a secret key 128 in one embodiment the encryption engine 126 is an aes encryption engine and the length of the secret key 128 is 128 bits in one embodiment the length of the secret key 128 is 64 bits in one embodiment the plain text input to the aes encryption engine 126 includes a manufacturing id of the microprocessor 100 obtainable by the user which is unique to each individual microprocessor 100 part thus the aes encryption engine 126 produces a cipher text password 146 that is also unique to each individual microprocessor 100 part when the privileged user wants to access an msr 124 of a particular part the user provides the manufacturing id of the part to the microprocessor 100 manufacturer the manufacturer being the only knower of the secret key 128 value hidden within the microprocessor 100 generates a password 142 using the manufacturing id provided by the user and the secret key 128 value and provides the.