Establishing endpoint trust during operations

Integrating robust trust mechanisms during the operations phase is crucial for industrial endpoints, which are expected to run uninterrupted for extended periods. Firmware is the most fundamental piece of code that runs on any device and interfaces directly with the hardware. It is important to ensure that the firmware and software are updated on a regular basis, to incorporate security bug fixes. 

Although the consequences of loading an infected firmware are typically irreversible, it is important to secure the update process for both software and firmware. In this section, we shall delve into secure update processes, and the mechanisms to establish endpoint trust during the operations phase.

Secure updates

Software and firmware are never fully devoid of vulnerabilities and defects; thus, regular upgrades to incorporate bug fixes and security updates are required.

Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in the update or in the update process, or can...