The Trust in Technology Adaption
Cloud Computing, 5G, IoT, edge computing, and AI are all driving innovation, but widespread adaption is hampered by a basic lack of confidence. The hesitation derives from a lack of trust in the capabilities of each technology to preserve data. However, a new data security paradigm promises to relieve businesses’ major fears about data leakage. It is known as “confidential computing” and as a new way of securing data when it is in use and most vulnerable, by executing computations in a secure, hardware-based environment that is maintained segregated from the rest of the system.
Why would enterprises believe, at face value, the cloud’s security guarantees? Enterprises have varying levels of faith in their service providers. Some people may have complete faith in it to keep their data safe, while other enterprises can be worried about other residents, software vulnerabilities, or insider assaults (for example, from data center technicians).
Some may demand rigorous adherence to privacy standards, some may also have reservations about the cloud provider’s desire or ability to implement its stated security policies — for example, ensuring that their data would never be used without their consent — or fear subpoenas and other legal threats in the jurisdictions where the cloud operates.
Because a breach at a lower layer can affect security at any tier of the computing stack, security solutions must exist all the way down to the hardware’s processing components. Suppliers of operating systems and device drivers, platform and peripheral vendors, and service providers are all removed from the list of needed trusted parties as a result of this action. This reduces the risk of other host programs, the host operating system and hypervisor, system administrators, service providers, and even the infrastructure owner posing a threat.
Modern Data Security Challenges
It is turning out to be progressively uncommon for seven days to go by without fresh insight about a huge data breach. Organizations are crawling to answer developing dangers and worries about large information security, however, they should initially comprehend the significant threats they face. Executives can further develop response activities by better understanding the most genuine risks.
Data can exist in one of three forms: It is either on transit, in rest, or being used. Confidential computing addresses the “being used” security case. Every one of the three forms requires safety efforts to be set up to guarantee that unapproved elements cannot get to the data. At the point when data is on the way, among applications and servers, or at rest, there are various measures accessible to safeguard it, including encryption, ransomware, and infra security.
Data being used is more muddled on the grounds that for applications to compute, they should approach decrypted, unsecured data. It is in this insecure form, when data is being used, that it is especially defenceless against root users and malware that can access and take the substance of memory.
The burning question here is; what can enterprises do to take the benefits of cloud and such other technologies while balancing a secure environment for their most sensitive data? Accepting the problems is the first step toward finding practical solutions. The succeeding step is to select suitable technologies and solutions to tackle these cloud security challenges.
Cybersecurity risks and challenges in cloud computing and other similar technologies are not overwhelming. Enterprises can take benefits of cloud technology with the correct cloud service provider (CSP), next-gen technology, and due diligence.
Remarkable Development in Confidential Computing Space
The IT industry has recognized a new class of threat actors for whom no amount of external security or firewall protection will prevent a data breach, resulting in the coining of a new phrase in the security world: Confidential Computing. Businesses and government agencies are looking for a new approach to keep their data safe in the cloud these days.
Financial services clients, vehicle manufacturers, health insurance providers, and telecommunication service providers all benefit from this. Data privacy has become more critical than ever as a result of the worldwide pandemic, which has prompted the development of public and hybrid cloud services. Specific compliance regulations, as well as a rising number of broader data protection rules, apply to certain industries.
Several significant IT companies, including Google, IBM, Huawei, Arm, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, Nvidia, Fortanix, and VMware, are members of the confidential computing consortium and have invested heavily in Confidential Computing, bringing new and creative solutions to the enterprise.
As a result, organizations in these industries must adhere to what is referred to as the “three pillars of data security”: data security at rest, in motion, and in use. These principles also apply to cloud computing security. The first and second have been managed using encryption and tokenization, among other approaches, over the years.
However, the last one has proven to be more challenging to achieve, particularly in the cloud. Data must not be protected in order for computation to take place. As a result, attackers have the opportunity to dump the contents of memory and steal important data.
And this is where confidential computing comes in, assuring organizations and leaders that their data in the cloud is safe and secure.
The high-tech industry benefits greatly from confidential computing. Confidential computing primarily tries to give businesses more assurance that their data in the cloud is secure and private. It encourages businesses to use public cloud services for more sensitive data and computational tasks.
Because many edge and IoT devices must safeguard in-use data, confidential computing can be employed outside of the cloud as well.
A store and a credit card firm can use confidential computing to cross-check their customer and transaction data for potential fraud while none of them has access to the original data. CC ensures the privacy of their customers’ sensitive data throughout the process. Confidential computing allows for secure multi-party AI training for many reasons. For example, many hospitals may pool their data to teach AI to detect diseases based on CT scan images.
Throughout the process, the data of the patients is kept private. Sensor data from networked automobiles may be gathered and processed using confidential computing in an end-to-end encrypted and verifiable manner. It is theoretically guaranteed that no relevant judgments about individual drivers can be formed from the output data.
Industry 4.0 refers to a strategy for increasing productivity by deploying a large number of sensors and analyzing the data collected. Companies, on the other hand, are often unwilling to share or process their data in the cloud. Confidential computing has the potential to change that.
Most specialists in the sector believe that this technology is the way of the future. In the coming days, the software landscape of new technology will be shaped by cloud computing paired with confidential computing, which provides data security benefits. Confidential computing may become the de facto technology for computational security as a result of the necessity to safeguard and manage sensitive data throughout its life cycle, as well as industrial legislation and the expansion of cyber risks.
Confidential Computing Becomes the Organic Solution With Growing Data Security Concerns
When businesses started their cloud excursions several years ago, early adopters did not rush things. For the most part, it was simply a matter of moving a few simple workloads to the public cloud. However, we are now in the second chapter of the cloud, and we are trying to migrate the remaining workloads. This entails transferring sensitive data to the cloud while attempting to prevent the ransomware and other threats that plagued the cloud’s first chapter.
Additionally, confidential computing creates new commercial options. Without having to worry about storing and processing their data, businesses can choose a cloud service provider that best matches their needs. Organizations can also collaborate with other businesses to develop innovative solutions without revealing intellectual property or other sensitive information.
Running workloads in secure enclaves allows for entirely new security requirements to be implemented, preventing breaches, viruses, malicious insiders, and hackers. By applying this to cloud infrastructures, businesses may utilize the cloud almost like on-premises if they operate everything in secure enclaves – because no one, including cloud providers, has access to your data or code, removing the need for trust.
This could become the key use case for Confidential Computing in the next years, affecting how businesses set up their IT infrastructure and we will definitely see more businesses shifting toward confidential computing.
Confidential Computing is the logical choice for businesses concerned with cybersecurity and the protection of their data, employees, and customers at all levels. We believe that when you learn more about this immature but rapidly growing technology, you will find that it is a viable answer for your business security needs.
