Confidential computing’s core trust mechanism is broken. The fix may not exist


Vendors are trying to position “confidential computing” as the technical backbone of Europe’s sovereign cloud ambitions. But new research shows that a security protocol used to prove cryptographic trust in the system may have a fundamental architectural flaw.

Confidential computing rests on a mechanism called remote attestation, in which a server cryptographically proves to a client that it is running inside a genuine, unmodified Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) before any sensitive data changes hands. Intel’s product pages promise TDX will “add safeguards to data sovereignty and governance.” Google Cloud describes its confidential computing infrastructure as offering “full, auditable control over access to customer data.”

Read more…
Source:  The Register


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Microsoft Warns: Another Unpatched PrintNightmare Zero-Day

    August 12, 2021

    One day after dropping its scheduled August Patch Tuesday update, Microsoft issued a warning about yet another unpatched privilege escalation/remote code-execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler. The zero-day bug, tracked as CVE-2021-36958, carries a CVSS vulnerability-severity scale rating of 7.3, meaning that it’s rated as “important.” Microsoft said that it allows for a local ...

  • IT threat evolution Q2 2021

    August 12, 2021

    It is quite common for Chinese-speaking threat actors to share tools and methodologies: one such example is the infamous “DLL side-loading triad”: a legitimate executable, a malicious DLL to be side-loaded by it and an encoded payload, generally dropped from a self-extracting archive. This was first thought to be a signature of LuckyMouse, but we ...

  • Notorious AlphaBay darknet market comes back to life

    August 12, 2021

    The AlphaBay darkweb market has come back to life after an administrator of the original project relaunched it over the weekend. At the same time, the admin announced plans for setting up a platform for darknet markets to set up shop with a strong focus on anonymity. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • Cryptocurrency heist hacker returns $260m in funds

    August 12, 2021

    The hacker behind one of the largest cryptocurrency heists to date has returned almost half of the $600m (£433m) stolen assets. On Tuesday, the firm affected, Poly Network wrote a letter on Twitter, asking the individual to get in touch “to work out a solution”. The hacker then posted messages pledging to return funds, claiming to be ...

  • New AdLoad malware variant slips through Apple’s XProtect defenses

    August 11, 2021

    A new AdLoad malware variant is slipping through Apple’s YARA signature-based XProtect built-in antivirus to infect Macs as part of multiple campaigns tracked by cybersecurity firm SentinelOne. AdLoad is a widespread trojan targeting the macOS platform since at least since late 2017 and used to deploy various malicious payloads, including adware and Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs), Read ...

  • Accenture Confirms LockBit Ransomware Attack

    August 11, 2021

    08/13/21 08:42 UPDATE: Accenture reportedly acknowledged in an internal memo that attackers stole client information and work materials in a July 30 “security incident.” CyberScoop reports that the memo downplays the impact of the ransomware attack. The outlet quoted Accenture’s internal memo: “While the perpetrators were able to acquire certain documents that reference a small number ...