Device Provisioning

Provisioning is where IoT security is decided, and the shortcut taken here is the one that appears years later as a fleet-wide compromise.

The shortcut is a shared credential: the same key or certificate flashed onto every device because it is simple at manufacture. Extracting it from one device — and physical access to a device you own is not an attack, it is a purchase — yields the identity of every device ever made.

The correct shape is a unique per-device identity established at manufacture, ideally with the private key generated inside a secure element and never leaving it, so it cannot be extracted even with physical possession. The device then presents that identity for attestation on first connection, and receives its operational credentials.

Zero-touch provisioning builds on this: the manufacturer registers device identities to the customer's tenant, and a device authenticates and configures itself on first power-on with no installer intervention. For a fleet of a hundred thousand meters, manual provisioning is not a cost problem, it is an impossibility.

The lifecycle parts people forget: credentials expire, so rotation must work over the air for devices deployed for a decade; and decommissioning must revoke identity, or a device pulled from a skip is still a valid fleet member.