Most machines within plants and factories today need identities which are robust enough to be trusted outside the internal network - a crucial factor for interconnected factories and sites as well as cross-company collaboration. In order to provide a machine with an identity using certificates, one may utilize options like enabling PLCs to be equipped with a certificate or equipping hub-systems with certificates for each machine. However, the verification process only verifies if a certificate is valid, but not if the machine is truly the machine that should being using the certificate.  

This Machine Identity Management Development Fund project seeks to solve these problems and provide a means to globally define an undisputable link between a machine and its machine identity across different sites, networks and businesses.  With this integration, Venafi customers will be able to verify the authenticity of information, communication, as well as the validity of machine identity through the Verifiable Credentials.