Steady and authentication status information of a technical device

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for detection and verification wengistens status information of a technical device (12), particularly to check the software version. To be able to provide the current software version number easily and reliably available and check, the technical device (12) comprises a memory (14), a computing unit (16) and a display device (18), wherein the memory (14) at least one for the operation of the technical device (12) required software (26), a software version number (28) and safety data (30) for calculating a graphically displayed includes identification feature. The security data (30) are stored in an encrypted region (32) of the memory (14). Means of the computing unit (16) the identification feature with the software version number (28) and the security data (30) can be calculated. The display device (18) displays the information in energized condition without the use of an external power source.