Superdistribution: Testability, security and management of digital applications

Application frameworks have transitioned from isolated computing units to mobile, distributed and connected cyber infrastructure. To meet the needs of mobility and distributive storage and execution application frameworks need to support application distribution and updated mechanisms that can be managed effectively and securely. An application distribution update and execution schemes for consumers such that each and every consumer gets the similar application experience is termed as superdistribution. Superdistribution classically was accomplished by using digital media which required special hardware and software for consumption. Digital content in today´s cyber infrastructure have transitioned from basic consume only content to interactive updatable content. Hence controlling superdistribution to guarantee security requirements of application infrastructure is critical for the success of the application content framework. Also important is the ability of the framework to provide a testing framework for application development. With increased mobility and perpetual connectivity the problems of distribution and management digital content in a secure way for different cyber architectures are significant. In this paper we show how the constructs of X509 certificate can be used to manage superdistribution frameworks. We also show the usage of X509 certificate constructs to allow local distribution for application development and its limitations.