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Identity and attestation: a node’s trust module answering a challenge from the verifier. The loop, step by step: 1. A node, its security module and a verifier. 2. Sensor, link, edge and console stand ready. 3. The node boots and measures its own software. 4. Time and place are fixed to every sample. 5. The module signs the measurements. 6. The quote travels to the verifier. 7. The relay forwards sealed packets untouched. 8. Signatures are checked before any model runs. 9. The verifier compares it with the known-good set. 10. The edge releases confirmed results only. 11. A short-lived credential is issued. 12. The console shows the evidence with the alert. 13. The node joins with its credential. 14. Sensors check that the response worked. 15. Record, proof and action are archived together. 16. Everything settles back to idle.

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A node, its security module and a verifier

Nexus Observatory

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Security and trust

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Identity and attestation
Hardware roots of trust, quotes checked at every join.

Identity and attestation, inside Security and trust: Trusted Platform Module, DICE layered identity, secure device identifiers, remote attestation architecture and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification to ISO/IEC 11889, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

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At a glance

Trusted Platform Module

A hardware root of trust that holds keys, measures boot and signs attestation evidence. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds Trusted Platform Module, drawn against TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification and ISO/IEC 11889 and used beside secure elements on the same sites.

مسئله

Hardware roots of trust, quotes checked at every join

Field devices sit in public places, run for years and join networks that also carry control traffic. A single unverified node or unsigned update can reach far beyond the sensor it came with. Security has to be built into how every node joins, updates and reports, because nobody can guard unattended sites in person.

Key facts

Specification
TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification · ISO/IEC 11889
Specification
IETF RFC 9711 (EAT)
Specification
IEEE 802.1AR-2018 (IDevID, LDevID)
Specification
IETF RFC 9334 (RATS architecture)
Specification
TCG DICE Layering Architecture

Components

  • Hardware security module, 1U, in an edge rack
  • Fixed gas detectors on a drift wall
  • Particulate monitoring station and sensor node
  • Overhead line sensor on a distribution span
  • Private LTE mast on a solar skid
  • “AI tower in a box”
  • Data hall row pair with cold-aisle containment
  • Operations console with a video wall

Interfaces

Radio
Ethernet
Security
PKCS #11 · TPM 2.0

Where it works

  • Entity Attestation Tokens
  • Remote attestation architecture

In the story below

  1. The system, part by part
  2. Assembly
  3. Installation
  4. Deployment
  5. Connections
  6. Operation
  7. Failure and recovery
  8. Scale and federation
  9. What you get

Scenes · 13

Next steps

Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Security and trustTalk to sales
  1. Security and trust · Identity and attestation

    Hardware roots of trust, quotes checked at every join

    Field devices sit in public places, run for years and join networks that also carry control traffic. A single unverified node or unsigned update can reach far beyond the sensor it came with. Security has to be built into how every node joins, updates and reports, because nobody can guard unattended sites in person.

  2. What it does

    Trusted Platform Module

    A hardware root of trust that holds keys, measures boot and signs attestation evidence. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds Trusted Platform Module, drawn against TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification and ISO/IEC 11889 and used beside secure elements on the same sites.

    Specification
    TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification · ISO/IEC 11889
  3. Device identity and attestation

    Entity Attestation Tokens

    Signed claims about a device’s state carried as CWT or JWT. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds Entity Attestation Tokens, drawn against IETF RFC 9711. We build it into every site for identity and attestation against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.

    Specification
    IETF RFC 9711 (EAT)
  4. Device identity and attestation

    Secure device identifiers

    Factory-installed and locally significant device identities bound to hardware. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds secure device identifiers, drawn against IEEE 802.1AR-2018 and used beside zero-touch secure onboarding on the same sites.

    Specification
    IEEE 802.1AR-2018 (IDevID, LDevID)
  5. Device identity and attestation

    Remote attestation architecture

    Roles of attester, verifier and relying party, so trust in a node is evidence-based. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds remote attestation architecture, drawn against IETF RFC 9334. We build it into every site for identity and attestation against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.

    Specification
    IETF RFC 9334 (RATS architecture)
  6. Time and place

    When and where, on every record

    Every record made for identity and attestation carries its time, from a clock disciplined by satellite time or a PTP grandmaster, with the position and siting record of the station that made it. When time or position degrades, the record for identity and attestation says so, and every user downstream sees the same warning.

  7. Device identity and attestation

    DICE layered identity

    Device identity derived from each firmware layer for microcontrollers without a TPM. In identity and attestation, part of Security and trust, the device identity and attestation layer holds DICE layered identity, drawn against TCG DICE Layering Architecture and used beside physically unclonable functions on the same sites.

    Specification
    TCG DICE Layering Architecture
  8. اعتماد

    Proved before it is trusted

    A node joins a network for identity and attestation only after its hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge. Its keys stay in secure hardware, its software arrives signed and every record it makes for identity and attestation carries a signature, so anyone downstream can check where a value came from.

  9. شواهد

    Traced to its specifications

    We trace each part of identity and attestation to its specification: TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification, ISO/IEC 11889 and TCG DICE Layering Architecture. We keep the versions, configurations and test results of identity and attestation as signed records, so a buyer or an auditor can check what was delivered against what was specified.

    استانداردها
    TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification · ISO/IEC 11889 · TCG DICE Layering Architecture · IEEE 802.1AR-2018
  10. تازه‌ها

    Updates in rings, with rollback

    Software and configuration reach a fleet for identity and attestation in rings: one canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave, and each node for identity and attestation returns to its last good release without a site visit.

  11. How it scales

    One base unit, repeated

    A network for identity and attestation starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay and a fleet repeats the proven site, so capacity for identity and attestation grows by adding units, never by replacing what works.

  12. What you get

    Operational-technology assurance for observing sites

    Identity, attestation, segmentation and monitoring for instruments and edge nodes, with evidence for audits. Stated as services, never as a security guarantee. For identity and attestation, it goes to operators of critical sites and agencies as a managed service or professional services, sized to the sites they run.

    Talk to sales
  13. Next step

    Identity and attestation, planned with you

    Tell us the sites, the systems identity and attestation must work with and the outcome you need, with a map or a list of addresses if you have one. An engineer replies with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for identity and attestation, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Security and trust

More presentations

See it from every side.

Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before.

All presentations

In depth

Use case Utility grid-edge private LTE and wildfire weatherSector IndustrialISIC section · ISIC B Mining and quarryingISIC section · ISIC F Construction

Explainers

Explainer · Industrial IndustrialBlast vibration at the pit, fire weather at the grid edge, methane at the fenceline and tailings movement from GNSS.سکو Security and trustEvery unattended node is an entry pointسکو Sensors & instrumentsA number without its story

Stories

Story · Private 5G and AI-RAN Private 5G with the inference in the radioA private cellular network gives a site its own coverage, its own security and its own priorities. AI-RAN adds a second idea: the accelerators that run the…Story · Post-quantum cryptography Cryptography that outlasts the quantum computerData signed today may need to be trusted in 2040. Post-quantum standards were first published in August 2024, and governments have set dates for leaving…Story · Timing and PNT Time as infrastructureA 5G cell must hold its phase within 3 µs of its neighbours, ±1.5 µs of a common reference; a synchrophasor’s one per cent vector error leaves room for only…

Places and networks

Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Open-pit mineGNSS slope monitors on the benches, a blast seismograph at the boundary and a private cell for the fleet, around a benched pit cut into the ground.Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Transmission corridorLattice towers carry a line across open country; conductor sensors report temperature and sag, and the substation edge brings them into the grid operator’s systems.Network scene · Private 5G · Mining Private 5G in an open-pit mineA private network for haul trucks, drills and slope radar: a mast on the rim, a cell in the pit, the core at the plant, and coverage computed over the benches themselves.

Heritage observatories

Heritage observatory · Italy (historic building on the slopes of Vesuvius) · 1841 Vesuvius ObservatoryFounded in 1841 on the slope of Vesuvius, this is the oldest volcano observatory in the world.Heritage observatory · China · 132 Zhang Heng’s seismoscopeIn 132 CE a court astronomer presented a bronze urn that, it was recorded, told the capital of an earthquake no one in Luoyang had felt. No original survives.

Interactive tools

Interactive tool · Configure a station Station BuilderConfigure a station part by part in 3D, check the rules as you go and request a quote for the assembly.

01چیستی آن

Device identity and attestation.

How every node proves what it is and what it runs, how links and keys are protected, how software is traced to its source, how personal data is minimised, and how incidents are found and handled. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against.

Security, identity and trust

Trusted Platform Module

A hardware root of trust that holds keys, measures boot and signs attestation evidence.

We design and integrate.

TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification · ISO/IEC 11889

Security, identity and trust

DICE layered identity

Device identity derived from each firmware layer for microcontrollers without a TPM.

We design and integrate.

TCG DICE Layering Architecture

Security, identity and trust

Secure device identifiers

Factory-installed and locally significant device identities bound to hardware.

We design and integrate.

IEEE 802.1AR-2018 (IDevID, LDevID)

Security, identity and trust

Remote attestation architecture

Roles of attester, verifier and relying party, so trust in a node is evidence-based.

We design, integrate and operate.

IETF RFC 9334 (RATS architecture)

Security, identity and trust

Entity Attestation Tokens

Signed claims about a device’s state carried as CWT or JWT.

We design and integrate.

IETF RFC 9711 (EAT)

Security, identity and trust

Secure elements

Tamper-resistant chips that store credentials on constrained devices.

We design and integrate.

GlobalPlatform specifications

Frontier · Security, identity and trust

Physically unclonable functions

Keys derived from silicon variation rather than stored, resisting extraction.

We integrate.

ISO/IEC 20897-1 (PUF security requirements)

Security, identity and trust

Zero-touch secure onboarding

Devices proving their identity to the owner’s network without shared secrets in the field.

We design, integrate and operate.

FIDO Device Onboard 1.1 · IETF RFC 8995 (BRSKI)

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

Identity and attestation draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked.

Device identity and attestation

8

PKI, secure boot and updates

7

Zero trust and network security

7

5G and wireless security

6

OT security and software supply chain

9

Privacy and data protection

7

Keys, cryptography and post-quantum migration

9

Monitoring, incident response and governance

8

01پیوستن Identity, attestation quote, signed policy.

02Admit Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider.

03توصیف What, where, how and by whom, with calibration.

04Time One clock across the grid, with its error bound.

05Observe Every value with quality and provenance.

06Qualify Tested against the specification, state on record.

07Federate Signed exchange across grids and trust domains.

08Orchestrate Software and configuration by signed plan.

09Correct A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version.

10Exchange Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces.

11Prove Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check.

12Exit and decommission An open exit path, and a record that closes.

03On the grid

Every site joins one observing grid.

The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into. A site built here enrols into the same grid.

The observing grid

  1. Open instruments on the observing grid.

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on identity and attestation.

Defence-adjacent (civil dual-use)

Critical-infrastructure resilience sensing

Utility and pipeline monitoring under grid-security rules.
Government and public safety

National GBON surface and upper-air network

WMO-grade stations reporting through WIS 2.0, funded through the systematic-observations financing pathway.
Government and public safety

Wildfire camera network and fire-weather stations

Camera towers with edge inference and co-located fire-weather stations, utility- or agency-funded.
Government and public safety

Urban street-flood sensor network

Open-hardware depth sensors with open data and alerts to emergency management.
Government and public safety

Alerting integration with the Common Alerting Protocol and cell broadcast

Software-heavy: sensor triggers feed an alert origination tool; the alert authority keeps every decision.
Government and public safety

Deployable communications and sensing for incident command

A cell on wheels with satellite backhaul, mesh telemetry and environment nodes at the incident base.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site

  • Threat model for observing sites
  • Attestation profile in the protocol

Enterprise, on this site

  • Operational-technology assurance
  • Security monitoring for observing sites
  • Key and PKI operations

06The rest of the line

Security and trust, area by area.

Security and trust

Keys and PKI

Issuance, rotation and post-quantum migration.
Security and trust

Segmentation and zero trust

Least privilege between nodes, tenants and sites.
Security and trust

OT and wireless security

Field networks, 5G and the software supply chain.
Security and trust

Monitoring and response

Detect, contain, recover, with the evidence kept.

Bring us the site.

Survey, design, deployment and operation for identity and attestation. The form names who receives your details.

Talk to usAsk for a quote

Hardware roots of trust, quotes checked at every join.

Identity and attestation, inside Security and trust: Trusted Platform Module, DICE layered identity, secure device identifiers, remote attestation architecture and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from TCG TPM 2.0 Library Specification to ISO/IEC 11889, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

01چیستی آن

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

03On the grid

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site
    Enterprise, on this site
      06The rest of the line

      Bring us the site.