An industrial automation system, comprising: a digital certificate that is granted to a client (110;214) by a license generating component, LGC, to permit access to a portion of an industrial control component (130; 212), wherein the digital certificate comprises a public key; a private key obtained by the client (110;214) from the LGC, wherein the private key matches the public key within the certificate; and the client (110; 214), wherein the client is configured to employ a protocol that is based in part on an asymmetric key exchange to facilitate authentication and access to the portion of the industrial control component (130;212) by the client (110;214), wherein the asymmetric key exchange is associated with the public key and the private key, and wherein the protocol comprises: the client (110;214) being configured to transmit the digital certificate to the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to receive a device challenge from the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to decode the device challenge and transmit a response for the device challenge to the industrial control component; and the client (110;214) being configured to receive a session response from the industrial control component indicating whether a session has been established between the client and the industrial control component. a digital certificate that is granted to a client (110;214) by a license generating component, LGC, to permit access to a portion of an industrial control component (130; 212), wherein the digital certificate comprises a public key; a private key obtained by the client (110;214) from the LGC, wherein the private key matches the public key within the certificate; and the client (110; 214), wherein the client is configured to employ a protocol that is based in part on an asymmetric key exchange to facilitate authentication and access to the portion of the industrial control component (130;212) by the client (110;214), wherein the asymmetric key exchange is associated with the public key and the private key, and wherein the protocol comprises: the client (110;214) being configured to transmit the digital certificate to the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to receive a device challenge from the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to decode the device challenge and transmit a response for the device challenge to the industrial control component; and the client (110;214) being configured to receive a session response from the industrial control component indicating whether a session has been established between the client and the industrial control component. the client (110;214) being configured to transmit the digital certificate to the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to receive a device challenge from the industrial control component; the client (110;214) being configured to decode the device challenge and transmit a response for the device challenge to the industrial control component; and the client (110;214) being configured to receive a session response from the industrial control component indicating whether a session has been established between the client and the industrial control component.