Security capabilities of information systems: TPM, memory protection, HSM

Modern hardware and operating systems include built-in security capabilities that software alone cannot provide. The CISSP exam expects you to know what each does and when to use it. Many of them rely on the idea of a hardware root of trust: a small, trusted component whose integrity everything else builds on. If the root is trustworthy, it can measure and verify the next layer, which verifies the next, forming a chain of trust up to the running applications.