TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and Remote Attestation
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a dedicated, tamper-resistant hardware chip that establishes a hardware root of trust within a computing system by securely handling cryptographic operations, including key generation and storage. A key process enabled by the TPM is remote attestation, a mechanism through which a system can prove its software integrity to a remote party. During this process, the TPM records cryptographic measurements of the platform's boot process and software stack and then uses a unique, protected key to sign a report of these measurements, allowing a remote verifier to cryptographically confirm that the system is in a known, trustworthy state and has not been compromised before granting it access to a network or sensitive data.