01 / Who this is for
In defense, critical infrastructure, manufacturing and operational technology, knowing who connected is not enough. kin brings Continuous Proof Trust to machine communications, continually renewing confidence in every participating system.
Provenance assurance for the systems that matter most.
No reusable authentication credential to steal.
Approved state
Evidence tied to the device profile
Expected participant
Provenance, not possession alone
Renewed confidence
Fresh proof during operation
02 / WHERE MACHINE TRUST FALLS SHORT
A connection is not proof of trust.
Not every intrusion begins with an exploit. An attacker holding a valid, stolen credential can connect from a device that was never approved, and the system will accept it. The credential was verified. The machine was not. Once that first check passes, trust is largely assumed for the remainder of the session.
That single gap underlies attacks most security teams already know well:
Stolen credentials. A valid credential presented by an unapproved machine.
Man in the middle. An unauthorized party positioned between two systems that believe they are communicating directly.
Replay. Previously captured traffic, resent and accepted as current.
Device cloning. A copied or substituted device accepted as the original.
Packet tampering. Commands altered in transit without detection.
An accelerating threat
AI is increasing the speed, scale and sophistication of these attacks. AI-assisted attackers can identify weaknesses, automate intrusion attempts and adapt their techniques with diminishing human involvement. A trust decision made once, at login, was not designed for that pace.
These risks have long been treated as a cost of operating connected systems, because nothing could address them at the root. That is what we set out to change.
03 / A DIFFERENT TRUST MODEL
From inherited trust to fresh proof.
Continuous Proof Trust is a vendor-neutral architectural model. Instead of treating authentication as a one-time event, it continually renews confidence in approved machines, software and the relationships between them. kin is Iothic's implementation of that model.
Know who's expected
Define the provisioned participants and attributes that matter for each relationship.
Prove in context
Require fresh, relationship-bound proof that the participant remains the expected party during operation.
Maintain confidence
Trust can be renewed, degraded, suspended, recovered or terminated. Operational responses follow user-defined policy.
Every session answers three questions
Provenance. Is this the expected, provisioned participant?
Integrity. Does the evidence match the approved hardware, software and configuration?
Authenticity. Are the intended parties talking, with no one impersonating or in between?
The model is best understood in practice. The following demonstrations show it under attack.
04 / DEMONSTRATED UNDER ATTACK
Recognizable attacks. A different trust model.
Each demonstration runs one of the attacks described above, first against a conventional connection and then against a kin-protected one.
Attack: Man in the Middle
See an unauthorized intermediary enter a communication path, followed by the kin-protected comparison.
Attack: Replay
See why previously captured communication cannot satisfy fresh machine proof.
Attack: Device Cloning
Watch a copied or substituted participant fail to satisfy the expected trust relationship.
OPERATIONAL SETTING: OT
kin in an OT proxy MODBUS flat subnet
05 / HOW KIN WORKS
Provenance from the start. Protection beyond the handshake.
kin gives each participating machine a digital fingerprint, then keeps proving it is the same machine, in the same approved state, for as long as it communicates. The cryptographic model is set out in the Continuous Proof Trust papers.
Provisioning
kin establishes each device's or application's digital fingerprint from environmental and behavioural characteristics you define. Provisioning takes place in a controlled environment, protected with ML-KEM-1024, the NIST-standardized post-quantum algorithm. It is the only point at which a key is used.
Continuous proof
From then on, kin derives fresh cryptographic proof from that fingerprint for every session and every packet, and verifies it without a key exchange. Nothing reusable is stored that could be stolen or replayed. Protected traffic is encrypted with AES-256-GCM and carries anti-cloning and anti-tamper markers.
Current condition
A known device can still be compromised. kin can take in antivirus and antimalware alerts from your existing tools, so a change in a device's security state can trigger the response you have defined.
Where kin runs.
Defence & Deployed
Manufacturing
Critical Infrastructure
Commercial & Industrial
06 / FIT WITH EXISTING ENVIRONMENTS
Bring Continuous Proof Trust into your environment.
kin takes zero trust further, extending verification to every session and every packet without disrupting existing controls or adding latency that affects performance. Embed it as a library, run it as a gateway, or deploy it as a sidecar.
Continuing machine trust and protected communications between provisioned systems and infrastructure.
Embed machine authentication in software or connected products, working alongside or replacing selected existing authentication paths.
Protect remote machine service relationships while retaining existing human login, MFA, approval and authorization controls.
07 / BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE
Research roots. Real-world evaluation.
Iothic combines academic research roots with cybersecurity innovation programmes, defence innovation recognition, and industrial testing experience.
Oxford research roots
Technology developed from a foundation of research associated with the University of Oxford.
NATO DIANA 2026 finalist
Reached the final panel vetting stage for selection into the accelerator programme.
University of Sheffield AMRC
Functional testing of kin's machine authentication at the AMRC.
UK Defence Innovation
Proposal ACC2221281 was accepted as fundable under the UK Defence Innovation initiative.
NCSC for Startups alumnus
Iothic successfully passed through the Startups Programme at the UK's National Cyber Security Centre.
Explore the evidence and thinking behind machine trust.
Read public product and application articles, explore operational examples, and access research papers through our technical registration area.
Public articles
OT, defence, infrastructure, machine trust and connected systems.
Research manuscripts
Published and foundational research on machine trust and protected communications.
Access levels
Free registration provides immediate access to the How kin Works introduction and authorized research links. Detailed architecture, integration and implementation materials require separate Iothic approval.
08 / PATHS TO EVALUATION
Different paths. The same foundation of proof.
Whether you're deploying security, developing connected products, or exploring a technology partnership, Iothic offers a path to introducing Continuous Proof Trust.
Buying or deploying security?
Discuss threat scenarios, integration requirements, operational resilience, and an evidence-based evaluation.
Building or integrating?
Understand the architecture, software interfaces, implementation boundaries, and technical onboarding.
Embedding or partnering?
For technology vendors, OEMs and integrators adding continuous machine trust to what they already deliver. OEM licensing, platform integration and co-development.
Make machine trust a capability you can prove.
We built kin so that organizations no longer have to accept these vulnerabilities as inevitable. Tell us about your environment and the threats you face, and we will work with you to evaluate how Continuous Proof Trust could protect it.
Questions about kin
What is Continuous Proof Trust?
Continuous Proof Trust (CPT) is a vendor-neutral architectural model that continually verifies the provenance and integrity of approved machines, software and their communication relationships.
Rather than treating authentication as a one-time event, CPT renews confidence throughout the relationship. kin is Iothic's implementation of Continuous Proof Trust.
Can kin work alongside existing security?
Yes. Depending on the environment, kin can strengthen a selected communication path, work alongside existing controls, or replace an authentication approach where technically appropriate.
How do we explore integration?
Start with a technical briefing to discuss your systems, communication paths, and deployment requirements. Detailed implementation materials require separate Iothic approval.
Can kin work with our existing antivirus and endpoint security tools?
Yes. Through integration, kin can incorporate alerts from antivirus, antimalware and other endpoint security tools into its ongoing trust determination.
When an integrated tool flags a potentially compromised device, that signal can trigger an operator-defined response to its kin-protected communications. This connects existing threat detection with continued machine trust, helping contain potential compromise.
The integration defines which signals are used and how the system responds.
How is kin different from conventional authentication?
Conventional authentication often establishes trust at a single point in time using credentials, tokens or certificates. A stolen but valid authentication credential may be presented by an unauthorized machine.
kin takes a different approach. Its ongoing authentication continually renews relationship-bound proof without storing, exchanging or managing reusable authentication artifacts. This removes the reusable authentication credential theft target from kin's authentication process.
What is machine provenance, and why does it matter?
Provenance provides proof of origin and an unbroken history that something is what it claims to be and hasn't been changed or substituted since it was last verified.
kin establishes a participant's provenance during provisioning and continually renews confidence in its approved relationship. Changes in provenance or trust can trigger an operator-defined response.
Request a Technical Briefing
Tell us about your environment and the systems you need to protect. Whether you are evaluating kin, exploring software integration, or discussing a partnership, we can help define the next step.