The World's First Device Identity Platform | Smallstep
Introducing the world’s first Device Identity Platform™
Stop API key sprawl. Prove what is acting — human or machine — and from where.
Secure access for humans, devices, workloads, AI agents, and MCP-based toolchains with hardware-backed, short-lived certificates.
AI agents & MCP tool calls
Secure non-human access — including MCP clients and servers — with cryptographic identity.
Inference & internal APIs
Authenticate AI workloads and MCP servers with mTLS instead of static secrets.
Device-bound access
Restrict AI and MCP access to trusted hardware.
AI and MCP security starts with proven identity
AI agents and MCP toolchains act without human oversight. Learn how Smallstep secures autonomous systems with cryptographic identity — not API keys or implicit trust.
Introducing ACME Device Attestation
Smallstep co-developed a real standard for high-assurance device identity with Google at the IETF. It's called ACME Device Attestation, ACME DA for short, and is a major upgrade to existing solutions like SCEP. ACME DA leverages hardware co-processors for attestation and keybinding⎯like a fingerprint for your device⎯ preventing credential exfiltration, phishing, and impersonation attacks.
Benefits of the cryptographic trust plane
Hardware-bound credentials for all the things
Device identity ensures that only company-owned devices can access your enterprise's most sensitive resources. This includes Wi-Fi networks, VPNs, financial dashboards, intellectual property, databases with GDPR-scoped PII, and Git repos. The Device Identity Platform™ provides the strongest possible guarantee of authentic device identity by binding access to the device's silicon.
Go beyond user credentials
Zero Trust is more than user authentication. It’s about verifying everything: people, and devices, even the applications or services they run. A robust Device Identity strategy will keep your enterprise ahead of breaches, especially with remote work and cloud adoption on the rise.
Multi-OS support is already here
Smallstep supports ACME DA natively on all operating systems. This enables consistent and secure cross-platform access no matter which OS your team prefers. MacOS, Windows, and notably Linux, protect them all (and your enterprise) with cross-platform device identity.
Built for teams that want security and simplicity at scale
For Enterprise IT teams
Secure corporate owned devices, networking infrastructure, & source code
For DevOps teams
Secure VMs, Kubernetes, cloud workloads, SSH, and mTLS everywhere
Leading the industry in Zero Trust for devices
"We knew we had device identity gaps, and Smallstep is the only one doing this."
Client Platform Engineer • Enterprise SaaS Company
Integrates with everything in your stack
Leading the industry in Zero Trust for devices
Empower your teams to work at the pace and scale of modern engineering.