Glossary
Device Attestation
Device attestation lets a device cryptographically prove facts about itself — its identity, and often that its software hasn't been tampered with — rather than relying solely on a credential that a cloned or compromised device could just as easily present. This typically depends on key material rooted in the device's own hardware, so the proof is tied to that specific physical device rather than to a secret that could be extracted and copied elsewhere.
For a fleet of many small devices, attestation matters specifically because physical access to any individual unit is often much easier for an attacker to obtain than access to a server — a device sitting in the field is a plausible target for physical tampering in a way a data-center server generally isn't.