Building Trust with Project Amber for Confidential Computing

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Understanding Confidential Computing and its Importance
3. Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
   1. TEEs and Data Protection
   2. TEEs vs Homomorphic Encryption
4. Project Amber: An Overview
5. The Role of Attestation in Confidential Computing
   1. Verifying Trusted Execution Environments
   2. The Importance of Independent Verification
6. Building and Managing a Trusted Authority
   1. Complexity of Building a Trusted Authority
   2. Advantages of an Independent Third-Party Service
7. Amber: Beyond CPUs
   1. Extending Amber to GPUs, IPUs, and Devices
   2. Supply Chain Attestation
8. Conclusion

Introduction

In the ever-evolving world of cyber security, the need to protect sensitive data and intellectual property is paramount. With the increasing adoption of cloud computing, there arises a concern about data and IP compromise in an infrastructure not owned by the customer. This is where confidential computing comes into play. Confidential computing aims to protect data and IP by isolating them from the platform and infrastructure administrators. In this article, we will delve into the concept of confidential computing, focusing on a project called Amber and its role in ensuring the trustworthiness of trusted execution environments.

Understanding Confidential Computing and its Importance

🔒 Confidential computing has emerged as a critical technology focus in the industry, particularly with the growing shift towards cloud computing. It aims to address the need for protecting sensitive workloads and ensuring the isolation of data and IP. By leveraging trusted execution environments (TEEs) and homomorphic encryption, confidential computing enables customers to securely move their workloads to the cloud, without compromising the confidentiality and integrity of their data.

Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)

TEEs and Data Protection

🔒 Trusted execution environments (TEEs) play a pivotal role in confidential computing. TEEs provide a secure and isolated environment, often in the form of a secure enclave, where code and applications can be executed without being accessible to administrators or infrastructure providers. The fundamental idea behind TEEs is to ensure that sensitive information remains encrypted and inaccessible, even when processed within the TEE.

TEEs vs Homomorphic Encryption

🔒 While TEEs offer a practical and efficient solution for confidential computing, another approach gaining attention is homomorphic encryption. Unlike TEEs, which focus on securing the execution environment, homomorphic encryption encrypts data during execution, making it computationally intensive. However, homomorphic encryption is still in its early stages and requires significant computational resources. The industry's current focus is predominantly on TEEs due to their effectiveness and scalability.

Project Amber: An Overview

🔒 Project Amber is an initiative led by Intel to address the challenges of confidential computing. It focuses on verifying the trustworthiness of trusted execution environments through a process called attestation. Attestation ensures the integrity and authenticity of the TEE, thereby providing assurance to customers that their workloads are running in a genuine and secure environment.

The Role of Attestation in Confidential Computing

Verifying Trusted Execution Environments

🔒 Attestation serves as the foundation for establishing the trustworthiness of trusted execution environments. When code or data is processed within a TEE, attestation verifies that the TEE is genuine and running the expected code. This verification is crucial in cloud environments, where customers do not have direct control over the infrastructure. Most service providers offering TEEs also provide attestation, but for sensitive workloads, independent verification becomes necessary.

The Importance of Independent Verification

🔒 Independent verification of TEEs ensures an additional layer of trust for customers. While some customers may rely solely on the attestation provided by the service provider, others, especially those dealing with regulated workloads and strict data protection regulations, require an independent entity to verify the authenticity of the TEE. Project Amber fills this gap by providing independent verification services, enabling customers to have verifiable proof of their trusted execution environments' trustworthiness.

Building and Managing a Trusted Authority

Complexity of Building a Trusted Authority

🔒 Building a trusted authority for independent attestation is a complex endeavor. It requires extensive knowledge of TEEs, access to platform certificates, and understanding of the implementation details surrounding TEEs. While anyone can build a trusted authority, managing and scaling it to meet the demands of broad adoption is no easy task. Successful implementation requires expertise in handling concurrency, ensuring high availability, and continuous monitoring of the attestation service.

Advantages of an Independent Third-Party Service

🔒 Hosting an independent attestation service, like Project Amber, offers several advantages. It relieves enterprises of the burden of setting up and managing their own attestation service, which may not be their core competency. Additionally, an independent service provides a uniform way of attesting and verifying TEEs across multiple cloud providers. This is especially beneficial for enterprises running their workloads in multiple clouds, eliminating the need for separate attestation systems for each cloud.

Amber: Beyond CPUs

Extending Amber to GPUs, IPUs, and Devices

🔒 The scope of Amber extends beyond CPUs to include other devices like GPUs, IPUs, and potentially client devices. As enterprises offload processing to specialized devices or leverage IoT devices, the need to verify the trustworthiness of these devices becomes crucial. Extending Amber's functionality to cover GPUs, IPUs, and IoT devices ensures comprehensive protection throughout the entire computing infrastructure, from edge devices to cloud environments.

Supply Chain Attestation

🔒 Another area of focus for attestation services is supply chain attestation. Ensuring the trustworthiness of platform components and verifying their compliance with regulations is gaining significant attention. By offering supply chain attestation, Project Amber and similar services contribute to enhancing the overall security and integrity of the entire computing ecosystem.

Conclusion

Confidential computing, facilitated by trusted execution environments and attestation, has emerged as a vital approach to protecting sensitive data in cloud environments. Project Amber, led by Intel, plays a pivotal role in ensuring the trustworthiness of trusted execution environments and offering independent verification. While the journey of confidential computing has just begun, the vision extends beyond CPUs to include GPUs, IPUs, and various devices, enabling enterprises to securely harness the benefits of the cloud era.

Highlights

• Confidential computing aims to protect sensitive data and IP by isolating them from infrastructure administrators.
• Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and homomorphic encryption are two approaches for achieving confidential computing.
• Project Amber, led by Intel, provides independent verification of TEEs through attestation.
• Independent verification ensures an additional layer of trust and reassurance for customers.
• Building and managing a trusted authority for attestation is a complex endeavor.
• Extending attestation services to GPUs, IPUs, and devices is crucial for comprehensive data protection.
• Supply chain attestation enhances the overall security of the computing ecosystem.

FAQ

Q: What is the role of confidentiality in confidential computing? A: Confidential computing ensures that sensitive data and IP remain protected and isolated from unauthorized access or compromise.

Q: How does attestation work in Project Amber? A: Attestation in Project Amber verifies the trustworthiness of trusted execution environments, ensuring their authenticity and integrity.

Q: Can anyone build a trusted authority for attestation? A: While anyone can build a trusted authority, it requires extensive knowledge, expertise, and resources to ensure scalability and operational efficiency.

Q: What are the future prospects for Project Amber? A: Project Amber aims to extend its functionality beyond CPUs to include GPUs, IPUs, and devices, ensuring comprehensive protection throughout the computing infrastructure.

Q: How does confidential computing benefit enterprises running workloads in multiple clouds? A: Confidential computing, with a unified attestation service like Project Amber, simplifies the process of verifying trusted execution environments across different cloud providers, streamlining operational workflows for enterprises.

Resources:

• Intel
• Department of Homeland Security