Stronger Authentication than Passwords or Tokens
PKI device certificates offer stronger identity and authentication for your devices than passwords. PKI private keys are harder to crack, can’t be phished, can’t be spoofed, aren’t transmitted outside of the device, and support two-way authentication.
That’s why IoT leaders recommend device certificates for IoT device identity and authentication:
Prevent Cloning, Spoofing, & Pirating
Because x.509 device certificates give each device a unique, unspoofable identity, they’re an exceptionally effective way to combat device cloning and spoofing. Implementing PKI security makes it tougher for counterfeiters to dupe consumers with fake devices. Hackers won’t be able to create malicious devices that can connect to your network.
x.509 devices also help telecommunications and other service providers fight pirating by ensuring that each device connected to the network is legitimate and authorized.
Sign and Encrypt Messages
PKI device certificates do more than provide unspoofable device identity, they also support two-way signing and encryption of messages and data. This provides an extra layer of protection against hackers attempting to infiltrate, influence, or take over your IoT network and devices.
Digitally signing and encrypting the data sent to and from your IoT devices protects you against risks such as data theft, man-in-the-middle attacks, device takeovers, and corrupted data.
End-To-End Certificate Management
Issuing certificates for your devices is one of the easier steps. But managing, updating, or revoking them all… not so much.
An IoT certificate lifecycle management system helps you identify, manage, and control each of your device’s identities—all the way from component manufacture to end-of-life.
We’ve done the research on the IoT certificate management tools currently on the market. Whether you’re a small startup or large enterprise, we have personalized recommendations based on your unique needs.
Save Time & Deploy Faster
Building your own private CA and PKI system from scratch takes a lot of time and money—for technical infrastructure, setup, security, backups, policies, key ceremonies, staffing, integrations, etc.
With managed PKI, you don’t have to follow a long checklist to issue and manage certificates. And when you know what your predictable annual costs are, you don’t get the surprise of going over your budget.
Quickly Integrate with Your Systems
Pre-built integrations like a REST API, and protocols such as EST, CMPv2, or SCEP, will get you up and running faster because they integrate right into your current systems or processes.
Using these extensively tested implementations greatly reduces the risk of an inadvertent cryptographic bug (like the weak RSA keys found to impact 1 in every 172 IoT devices.)
