1. A method of having a device in a communication system update an operational policy for the device, the method comprising: encoding a policy update in a virtual machine language used by a virtual machine residing on the device, the virtual machine being operable on the device independently of the components of the device to target policy execution at one or more particular components of the device rather than at an overall computing architecture of the device, by enabling the virtual machine to communicate with the particular components of the device using defined inputs and outputs and without the one or more particular components being within the virtual machine, the virtual machine being deployable on the device agnostic of an underlying operating system; having the policy update signed by a trusted entity; and sending a message comprising the signed policy update to the virtual machine on the device to enable the device to implement the policy update by having the virtual machine on the device execute the policy update and indicate validation of the policy update, wherein the message is configured to be authenticated using a cryptographic scheme.