Methods, systems, computer program products and business methods are provided which provide or utilize updates of firmware (i.e. data stored in a programmable memory device of a processing system) based on rules provided as extensions to certificates associated with an update. Such updates may be provided by obtaining an update image corresponding to the update of the programmable memory and obtaining a certificate associated with the update image, the certificate having update application rules in at least one extension of the certificate. The certificate may be provided as part of the update image. The update application rules are extracted from the extension of the certificate and the programmable memory selectively updated based on the update image and the update application rules extracted from the obtained certificate. Certificates for use in such firmware updates are also provided.