Confidential Computing Is An Innovative Method To Protect Data Used


 

confidential cloud software

Encryption is the most effective method of protecting sensitive data. It employs algorithms to encrypt data in order to allow it to be read only by the person who has the key needed to decrypt it. The advancement of technology continues to enhance encryption techniques that safeguard data in motion and data at rest, such as information stored on a hard drive. Whenever you desire a useful content about confidential computing, sneak a peek at this site.

Data is being utilized. How can data be encrypted when it's being processed within the memory of a computer? That's the goal of Azure confidential computing, an initiative in the industry that's gaining momentum to secure data that is being used -- at scale and on the cloud.

Building on industry innovations

Confidential computing is enabled through hardware technology that has an area of the CPU as a secure enclave. It secures the memory within the enclave with an encryption key unique to the CPU and application.

This technique can be utilized by security agencies to safeguard sensitive data and application codes which are stored in the enclave. The enclave is able to only decrypt the data. The data is protected even when it's being utilized, for instance, for analytics or database queries. Even if an attacker had root access to the system, they'd not be able to access the database.

The technology is equipped with an attestation feature that lets an organization confirm to other third parties that information is kept in an enclosure. For instance, a health agency could guarantee that the information that it gets will be secured.

The enclave's size was limited by previous versions of the technology. The most current generation of processors allow servers to hold as much as 1 TB of storage. This allows agencies to put an entire application, database or transaction server in the enclosure.

Cloud data security with confidence

This technology could change agencies' approach to security when using cloud computing. Traditional cloud computing users are required to trust the cloud provider. Cloud providers can offer every effort to protect the data at rest, and the agency might employ every measure to safeguard the data moving. However, ultimately agencies must hope their data will remain secure even when it is being used.

However, with Azure confidential computing agencies will ensure that the data they use is secure. This is a significant improvement, particularly for federal agencies, which are heavily controlled. The new technology allows them to protect their data even when it's hosted by a cloud-based provider. In the end, the data is secure throughout its entire lifespan whether it's moving and even when it is while in use.

Government computing secure

Leading hardware makers are partnering with top cloud service providers to bring confidential cloud to federal organizations. Agencies will be able select cloud services that are built on virtual machines that utilize the appropriate hardware technology to safeguard the data that is used. Attestation features can verify the security level of those VMs.

In preview, secure computing VMs for state, federal and local government as well as their collaborators across various cloud regions are accessible. This technology lets agencies create enclave-based apps to safeguard information stored in a private cloud that conforms to the security and compliance requirements of the government.

Federal agencies manage cloud environments in highly classified and air-gapped places which are not connected to the internet. For those situations, hardware and cloud providers have partnered to develop tools that enable confidential-computing provisioning, updates and attestation without the need for an internet connection.