C. Vanderpool
Northern.tech, Montana, United States
Keywords: cybersecurity, connected devices, digitalization, autonomous, software defined systems
As defense, aerospace, autonomy, and critical infrastructure systems become increasingly software-defined, cybersecurity can no longer be viewed solely as a perimeter defense problem. The ability to securely maintain, update, monitor, and govern software across deployed operational systems has become a critical component of mission readiness and cyber resilience. This presentation explores how modern organizations can address the growing challenge of software sustainment across distributed fleets of drones, autonomous vehicles, robotics platforms, satellites, edge computing infrastructure, and other mission-critical systems. Many of these assets operate in remote, bandwidth-constrained, disconnected, or contested environments where traditional IT patching and lifecycle management approaches are insufficient. Mender is an open-source software lifecycle management platform that enables organizations to securely deploy over-the-air (OTA) updates, maintain software inventory, remotely troubleshoot devices, enforce software governance, and reduce operational. Mender provides secure update delivery, cryptographic artifact verification, rollback protection, phased deployments, role-based access controls, and support for air-gapped and sovereign deployment models. As software increasingly defines mission capability, software sustainment is becoming a foundational element of cybersecurity strategy. This presentation will demonstrate how secure lifecycle management can help organizations bridge the gap between software development, cyber resilience and operational readiness.