Confidential Computing Is A Game-Changing Method To Secure Data In Use

 

 

A primary means of protecting sensitive information is encryption. The encryption process employs algorithms that make data unreadable for anyone who holds the key. The advancement of technology continues to enhance encryption technology that protects the data while it's in motion and in rest, like the data that is stored on a drive. Whenever you really want to learn extra information on confidential cloud, you must browse around anjuna website.

 

Data is being utilized. What can be done to secure data when it's being processed within the memory of a computer? This is the aim of Azure confidential computing which is an industry-wide initiative that is gaining momentum to protect data in use -- at scale and on the cloud.

 

Building on industry-leading innovations

 

Hardware technology allows for confidential computing by securing a portion of the CPU. It protects the memory inside the enclave with an encryption key that is unique to the CPU as well as the application.

 

This approach can be used by agencies to protect sensitive information and applications which are stored in the enclave. The enclave is able to only decrypt the data. The data is secure even when it's used, such as for analytics or database queries. Even if attackers gained root access to the system, they wouldn't be able to access the information.

 

This technology has an attestation feature that permits an organization to prove to other parties that the information is kept in an enclave. An agency that handles health data, for instance could guarantee health professionals that the information they submit will remain secured.

 

The size of an enclave was restricted by the earlier versions of this technology. However, with the most recent generation of processors for computers, a server could have as much as 1TB of enclave memory. That enables agencies to place an complete application, database, or transaction server within the enclosure.

 

Cloud data security with confidence

 

This capability is set to change the way security agencies think about cloud security. With traditional cloud computing, users have to implicitly believe in the cloud provider. While cloud providers may give every assurance that your data will be secure at rest, agencies might be taking all steps to ensure that their data is safe in motion. In the end, however, agencies have to simply believe that their data will be secure even when it is in use.

 

With AWS Nitro Enclaves agencies will be confident their data in use is secure. This is a significant step forward, especially for federal agencies that are subject to strict regulation. They are now able to protect their information that is in use, even if it is hosted by a cloud provider. As a result, the data is safe throughout its entire lifecycle when it's at rest, in motion and while in use.

 

Government computing is now secure

 

In order to bring AWS Nitro Enclaves the best cloud providers are teaming up with top hardware manufacturers. Agencies will be able choose cloud-based services that are built on virtual machines that use the right hardware technology to safeguard the data that is used. These VMs can be verified by authentication tools.

 

In preview, secure computing VMs for federal, state and local government as well as their collaborators across different cloud regions are now available. This technology allows agencies to create enclave-based apps to safeguard data in use in a private cloud that conforms to security and compliance standards of the government.

 

Of course, federal agencies usually manage cloud services in air-gapped, classified environments which aren't 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.