Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

A TPM is a secure element with a standardized interface and feature set defined by the Trusted Computing Group. Beyond key storage it has platform configuration registers that accumulate hashes of each stage of the boot process. Software can later ask the TPM to sign those measurements, producing a report a remote server can verify; this is attestation, and it lets a platform refuse connections from a device whose firmware has been altered.

TPMs are common on PCs, servers and increasingly on Linux-based gateways and edge devices, where they anchor disk encryption and device certificates. They are rarer on microcontroller-class products, which lack the resources to drive one and usually rely on a simpler secure element or on security features inside the SoC.

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