Device specific cryptographic content protection

One or more computer-readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon to facilitate protecting control data used in an industrial automation environment, wherein the program instructions, when executed by a computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

• generate an encryption key pair for an industrial controller, wherein the encryption key pair comprises a public key and a private key and the private key is stored within a secure storage system of the industrial controller;
• encrypt controller program content using the public key to generate encrypted controller content;
• and
• provide the encrypted controller content to the industrial controller, wherein the industrial controller is configured to decrypt the encrypted controller content using the private key and execute the controller program content.

An apparatus to facilitate protecting control data used in an industrial automation environment, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more computer-readable storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
• generate an encryption key pair for an industrial controller, wherein the encryption key pair comprises a public key and a private key and the private key is stored within a secure storage system of the industrial controller;
• encrypt controller program content using the public key to generate encrypted controller content;
• and
• provide the encrypted controller content to the industrial controller, wherein the industrial controller is configured to decrypt the encrypted controller content using the private key and execute the controller program content.