Confidential Computing is a transformative approach to protecting data in use, enabling computation in memory without exposing it to the rest of the system. As cloud-native technologies continue to evolve, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024 offers sessions at the forefront. This guide is your go-to resource for exploring the Confidential Computing offerings, ensuring you make the most of your conference experience.
Key Demos, Sessions and Posters
Learn about Attested Containers for securing containerized workloads and other open source Confidential Computing demos at Intel’s booth, H5.
Poster Session: Kubernetes in the Confidential Computing Marvels: Unlocking SMPC Across Multi-Cloud Clusters
Dive into the world of Secure Multiparty Computation (sMPC) with Kubernetes, exploring its application across multi-cloud clusters for enhanced data security.
Fortifying AI Security in Kubernetes with Confidential Containers (CoCo)
When: Thursday, March 21 • 14:30 15:05
Who: Suraj Deshmukh, Microsoft & Pradipta Banerjee, Red Hat
An exploration of integrating confidential containers with GPU computing for AI/ML workloads, maintaining data confidentiality while leveraging computational power.
Additional Highlights
CRI-O Odyssey: Exploring New Frontiers in Container Runtimes
An insight into the latest in container runtime technology, touching on Confidential Computing integration.
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024 offers an opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Cloud and Compute. Whether you’re a developer, IT professional, or business leader, these sessions provide a wealth of knowledge and a unique chance to advance your understanding of the technology at the Confidential Computing Consortium and its critical role in the future of cloud-native technologies.
Bookmark this page and plan your schedule to make the most of the Confidential Computing sessions at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024. See you there!
Authored by Sal KimmichAs we delve deeper into our exploration of Confidential Computing, this week we turn our attention to a critical component that plays a central role in this technology: Trusted Execution Environments, or TEEs. Understanding TEEs is key to appreciating how Confidential Computing enhances data security.
What are Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)?
At its simplest, a Trusted Execution Environment is a secure area within a processor. It guarantees that the code and data loaded inside it are protected with respect to confidentiality and integrity. Essentially, TEEs provide a kind of ‘safe room’ for sensitive operations, ensuring that even if a system is compromised, the data within the TEE remains secure.
How Do TEEs Work?
TEEs operate by isolating specific computations, data, or both, from the rest of the device or network. This isolation is hardware-based, which makes it highly resistant to external attacks, including those from the operating system itself. Within a TEE, code can run without risk of interference or snooping from other processes.
The Role of TEEs in Confidential Computing
In the context of Confidential Computing, TEEs are invaluable. They allow sensitive data to be processed in a secure environment, ensuring that it remains encrypted and inaccessible to unauthorized users or processes. This is particularly crucial when handling personal data, intellectual property, or any information requiring strict confidentiality.
Applications of TEEs
The applications of TEEs are vast and varied. They are used in mobile device security, cloud computing, IoT devices, and more. In each case, TEEs provide a layer of security that is vital in today’s interconnected and often vulnerable digital landscape.
A Look Back at Computing History
As we discuss these advanced concepts, it’s fascinating to reflect on how far we’ve come. Consider the ENIAC, unveiled in 1946 and considered the first general-purpose electronic computer. The journey from such rudimentary computing to today’s sophisticated TEEs underscores the incredible advancements in technology.
Next Steps in Our Journey
Understanding TEEs is just the beginning. As we continue our series, we’ll explore how these environments are implemented and the various challenges and solutions associated with them.
Stay Tuned
Up next we will delve into the role of open source in Confidential Computing. Open source initiatives are pivotal in the development and adoption of TEEs, offering transparency and collaborative opportunities that are essential in today’s cybersecurity landscape.
Explore the four-part series on Confidential Computing—a vital innovation for data privacy and security. Dive in now!
Part I – Introduction to Confidential Computing: A Year Long Exploration
Part II – The Evolution of Cybersecurity: From Early Threats to Modern Challenges
Part IV– Collaborative Security: The Role of Open Source in Confidential Computing
As we continue our journey through the world of Confidential Computing, it’s essential to understand the backdrop against which this technology has emerged. This week, we delve into the evolution of cybersecurity, tracing its journey from the early days of computing to the sophisticated landscape we navigate today.
The Early Days of Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity, in its infancy, was a game of cat and mouse between emerging technologies and the threats that shadowed them. The earliest computers, massive and isolated, faced minimal security concerns. However, as technology advanced and computers became interconnected, the need for robust cybersecurity measures became apparent.
The Birth of Computer Viruses and Antivirus Software
The 1980s marked a significant turning point with the advent of the first computer viruses. Among these early threats was the Brain virus, which led to the creation of the first antivirus software in 1987. This was a pivotal moment, signaling the start of an ongoing battle against cyber threats.
The Internet Era and Its Challenges
The explosion of the internet in the 1990s and early 2000s brought cybersecurity to the forefront. The connectivity that empowered businesses and individuals also opened up new vulnerabilities. Viruses, worms, and later, sophisticated malware, posed significant risks, leading to the development of more advanced cybersecurity solutions.
The Rise of Cybercrime
As technology continued to evolve, so did the nature of threats. Cybercrime became a lucrative business, with hackers targeting not just computers but entire networks. Data breaches, identity theft, and ransomware attacks became common, causing significant financial and reputational damage to individuals and organizations.
The Current Landscape: A Complex Battlefield
Today, cybersecurity is an intricate field, encompassing everything from endpoint security to network defenses, and now, Confidential Computing. The threats have become more sophisticated, leveraging AI and machine learning, making proactive and advanced defense mechanisms essential.
Confidential Computing: A New Frontier in Cybersecurity
This brings us to Confidential Computing – a response to the modern need for enhanced data protection. As we’ve seen, cybersecurity is no longer just about preventing unauthorized access; it’s about ensuring data integrity and confidentiality at every stage, including during processing.
Looking Ahead
The evolution of cybersecurity is a testament to the ever-changing landscape of technology. As we continue to innovate, so too will the methods to protect our digital assets. Confidential Computing is part of this ongoing evolution, representing the next step in securing our digital future.
A Fun Reminder of Our Journey
Reflecting on this evolution, it’s fascinating to think that the journey from the Brain virus to today’s sophisticated cyber threats led to the birth of an entire industry. The first antivirus software in 1987 was just the beginning of what has become a critical and ever-evolving field.
Stay Tuned
Next week, we’ll dive deeper into the world of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), a cornerstone of Confidential Computing. Join us as we explore how TEEs provide a secure space for data processing, marking a significant advancement in our quest for cybersecurity.
Explore the four-part series on Confidential Computing—a vital innovation for data privacy and security. Dive in now!
Part I – Introduction to Confidential Computing: A Year Long Exploration
Part III– Basics of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs): The Heart of Confidential Computing
Part IV– Collaborative Security: The Role of Open Source in Confidential Computing
Welcome to the first blog Confidential Computing Consortium blog series to help new members navigate the transformative landscape of Confidential Computing, a crucial advancement in safeguarding data privacy and security.
What is Confidential Computing?
Confidential Computing is a cutting-edge approach that protects data in use by encrypting it within Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). These secure areas of a processor ensure data is inaccessible to other applications, the operating system, and even cloud providers, safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access or leaks during processing. This technology is foundational in addressing the critical challenge of protecting data throughout its lifecycle, offering a new dimension of security for our digital world.
The Significance
In an era where data privacy concerns are paramount, Confidential Computing emerges as a vital solution. It enables businesses and individuals to compute with confidence, knowing their data remains secure and private, even in shared infrastructure environments. This technology fosters trust and facilitates secure data collaboration, unlocking new possibilities in cloud computing and beyond.
Our Journey Ahead
This blog series will explore these topics (and many more!):
1. The Evolution of Confidential Computing
2. Insights into Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
3. The Vital Role of Open Source in Confidential Computing
We’ll examine its transformative impact across industries, its pivotal role in emerging technologies, and how it underpins secure, data-driven innovations. This exploration is designed for tech enthusiasts, industry professionals, and anyone curious about the next frontier in digital security.
Learn more with Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
The Confidential Computing Consortium (CCC) champions this technology through collaborative efforts, including Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These SIGs are integral to: SIG meetings are open to everyone, emphasizing the consortium’s commitment to inclusivity and collaboration. There’s no membership requirement to join these discussions, making it an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in contributing to or learning more about confidential computing.
Be Part of the Movement
By joining our journey, you become a part of a community dedicated to advancing confidential computing. This series promises to deepen your understanding and provide resources that can be easily shared for collaborative efforts driving this technology forward.
Stay tuned as we reveal the fascinating world of Confidential Computing, and it’s critical role in privacy-enhancing technologies. If there is any topic you would love us to cover in this series, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to skimmich@contractor.linuxfoundation.org.
Explore the four-part series on Confidential Computing—a vital innovation for data privacy and security. Dive in now!
Part II – The Evolution of Cybersecurity: From Early Threats to Modern Challenges
Part III– Basics of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs): The Heart of Confidential Computing
Part IV– Collaborative Security: The Role of Open Source in Confidential Computing
The Confidential Computing DevRoom at FOSDEM brought together experts and enthusiasts to discuss and demystify the rapidly evolving field of Confidential Computing. The event was a melting pot of ideas, showcasing the latest advancements, practical applications, and the future direction of this technology.
Kickoff: Unveiling the Essence of Confidential Computing
The DevRoom opened with Fritz Alder, Jo Van Bulk, and Fabiano Fidencio welcoming attendees and setting the stage for the day’s discussions. They emphasized the importance of adhering to the Confidential Computing Consortium (CCC) definition, highlighting key properties such as data confidentiality, integrity, and code integrity. The conversation also touched on contextual properties like code confidentiality, authenticated launch, and attestability, underscoring the diversity in application needs and security requirements.
Intel TDX: A Leap Towards VM Isolation
Dr. Benny Fuhry took the stage to deep dive into Intel Trusted Domain Extensions (TDX), presenting it as a groundbreaking approach to VM isolation. Intel TDX stands out by ensuring that each trust domain is encrypted with a unique key, a move aimed at mitigating Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) attacks. With general availability announced alongside the 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel TDX is set to revolutionize memory confidentiality, integrity, and key management.
SGX-STEP: Enhancing Side Channel Attack Resolution
The SGX-STEP presentation from Luca Wilke spotlighted innovative techniques to counteract side-channel attacks, still a concern in the realm of Confidential Computing. Through detailed explanations of single stepping, interrupt counting, and amplification, the speakers shed light on improving temporal resolution for side-channel attacks, presenting a clear path toward more secure environments that could be used in Confidential Computing and beyond.
Database Security: Bridging Confidential Computing and Data Storage
Ilaria Battiston and Lotte Felius delved into the integration of confidential computing with database systems, presenting their research on secure databases. They discussed the performance overhead of utilizing SGX with SQLite and PostgreSQL, emphasizing the trade-offs between security and efficiency with preliminary results. Their work on minimizing performance impacts through vectorized processing inside secure enclaves provided valuable insights for developers aiming to secure database operations.
Evervault’s presentation from Cian Butler highlighted their innovative solutions for data security and compliance, focusing on encryption proxies and secure serverless functions. They discussed the challenges of monitoring and observability within AWS Nitro enclaves, showcasing their efforts to enhance reliability and performance in secure computing environments.
Tymoteusz Burak introduced the concept of fTPM implemented as a Trusted Application in ARM TrustZone, offering a compelling solution for enhancing the security of embedded systems. Despite challenges such as lack of secure storage and entropy sources, fTPM stands as a testament to the potential of leveraging Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) for robust security measures.
The presentation by Tom Dohrmann on Mushroom offered an insightful look into securing Linux workloads using AMD’s SEV-SNP technology. With a clear goal to run Linux programs securely, Mushroom addresses the critical need for integrity in remote code compilation on untrusted hosts. The architecture of Mushroom, built with a focus on minimalism and security, comprises a kernel and a supervisor, both developed in Rust, emphasizing efficiency and reduced host interaction.
The talk by Malte Poll and Paul Meyer delved into a critical aspect of Confidential Computing: the validation of Trusted Computing Base (TCB) measurements through remote attestation and the importance of reproducible builds in this process. The presentation highlighted the challenges in the current landscape, where reference values for validating TCB measurements are often provided by third parties without transparent mechanisms for auditing their trustworthiness or origin. Advocating for an auditable CC ecosystem, the speakers emphasized the necessity for every component of the TCB to be open source and reproducible, allowing end-users to verify the deployed system comprehensively. Utilizing mkosi and Nix(OS), they showcased how to build fully reproducible OS images from source code to reference values for remote attestation, providing a foundation for projects like Constellation and the Confidential Containers project. This approach aims to enhance the trust and security in Confidential Computing by enabling the community to independently verify reference values, marking a significant step towards more transparent and secure computing environments.
Ionut Mihalcea and Thomas Fossati showed us the development and importance of remote attestation covered milestones from the formation of TCPA to the latest advancements in RATS EAT. This narrative underscored the critical role of remote attestation in establishing trust and preserving privacy within confidential computing frameworks.
FOSDEM concluded with a roundup of various DevRooms, highlighting the interconnectedness of confidential computing with other domains such as energy, community development, and monitoring. Special attention was given to the EU’s new open-source cloud initiative, IPCEI-CIS, showcasing the commitment to leveraging open-source solutions for enhancing security and privacy.
A Special Thank You
As we reflect on all the experiences and exchanges at FOSDEM, we want to share a special note of gratitude to all participants of the Decrypted Gathering – one that we received directly from the catering team who worked with us that night:
“
I catered your event and I have to thank you for having been the most respectful and polite clients I’ve ever seen… And I of course thank you for working for such a noble cause that is data protection and open OS.
Thank you for existing and you can congratulate all the persons present. It was unseen and so heartwarming for me/us.
All the best,
Lauréline
”
Confidential computing is unique. It’s the kind of work that anyone can understand the value of, as soon as you explain the kind of data we try to keep private. Personalized medicine, space technology, and energy grids are all parts of Confidential Computing’s emerging sectors.
I’m incredibly grateful to have a growing community of engineers, academics and technology giants all coming together around this work. Thank you to everyone who is helping us to bring Confidential Computing to the center stage of this year.
Want to Get Involved with CCC?
If you are still looking to get involved with the Confidential Computing Consortium, you can find more resources about our technical committees and institutional memberships here. All of our technical committee meetings are open to the public, and recorded for all to view. We welcome anyone who wants to join in on the conversations around Confidential Computing.
If there’s a concept or clarification from these talks you believe is important to share with the CCC community, get in touch with me at skimmich@contractor.linuxfoundation.org and we’ll help you do write it up as a blog post or webinar, and get the information out to everyone.
In 2023 we focused on growing three things: our projects, ecosystem recognition, and our community.
Our technical community made great strides on each of these. Our open source project portfolio is wider and more mature. Outside of the CCC we contributed security expertise to public documents and standards organizations. As we grew to deliver these projects and papers, we maintained our emphasis on growing a positive community where everyone is welcome, and anyone can learn and contribute.
Projects
We grew projects in two vectors. First, for our existing projects we wanted to make sure they were useful and adopted. The prime example of that is Gramine moving to Graduated status as a reflection of its maturity and broad adoption.
Second, as a still young consortium we have plenty of room to add projects to address new areas or bring new approaches to existing areas. We are delighted to have made a home for new projects originating from Red Hat, Intel, VMWare/Broadcom, Samsung, and Suse. They join a portfolio originally provided by Red Hat, Microsoft, UNC, Intel, UC Berkeley, and Arm. These projects are now in an open governance setting where individuals unaffiliated with these organizations can bring their talents and contributions.
VirTEE provides tools and libraries to make development, management, and attestation of Virtualization-based Confidential Computing easier.
Spdm-rs implements key protocols to bring devices into the Confidential Computing boundary like accelerators for AI/ML workloads.
The Certifier Framework aims to bridge across different Confidential Computing environments for one coherent application experience.
Islet broadens our portfolio from a cloud and server focus out to phones and other mobile devices.
Finally, coconut-svsm creates a secure layer under the OS to provide trusted capabilities like virtual TPMs.
Some of these projects are still on-boarding and will be listed on the CCC website soon.
Ecosystem
One of the exciting things about Confidential Computing is that it is both developing and yet already in production. As an open source organization, we tend to focus on the development, but we also serve a role in explaining how to use it in production to solve real problems.
In 2023 we generated a number of articles in plain language about topics from attestation to homomorphic encryption. We also broadened out from our own channels to respond to government RFCs and engage other standards organizations. Our Governance, Risk, and Compliance SIG takes point on these matters and coordinates inputs from our community’s wide pool of subject matter experts. You are welcome to join us on Wednesdays.
The Attestation SIG is one of our most educational forums. This past year we made sense of a wide array of formats and attestation patterns. Our Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) discussed their attestation services and took inputs on how to evolve them to meet emerging standards while contributors from IETF, TCG, and other standards organizations shared their directions and took input on how to address requirements from hardware, software, and service vendors. The SIG also harmonized attestation approaches for TLS. A subteam produced a spec, implemented some open-source code and got the spec adopted in the IETF. All that in ~1 year, which by standardization time standards is quite a remarkable feat. To contribute or learn more please join us Tuesdays or make some popcorn and enjoy our youtube feed.
In our last TAC meeting of the year we ratified a new SIG. We all rely so much on the Linux kernel and yet that’s not an area where the consortium has focused. We’ll be writing up more about our plans in a separate post, but for now we’ll just note that in 2023 we recognized that engaging more with the Linux Kernel community is one of the most important things we can do to make Confidential Computing easy to adopt.
Community
It’s said that culture is more important than any individual policy or initiative of an organization. In the CCC we have a culture of Inclusivity and of Minimum Viable Governance. One way to think about that is we prioritize our resources in ways to include everyone. In the past that has included funded internships to welcome people to our community. 2023’s incremental step was identifying conferences where we can reach communities that are underrepresented in the CCC. In some cases we became aware of a conference after a deadline and so headed into 2024 we look to build on what we learned in 2023 to reach the widest possible audience. Given the rate of growth we saw in 2023, 2024 is going to be a big year for Confidential Computing and our Consortium. We are glad to have a sound culture to grow from and the opportunity to expand to make computing more secure.
Finally, as just a teaser for one more announcement hitting the news in 2024… we closed out 2023 by hiring a Technical Community Architect. We found an excellent energetic person to help activate things for CCC maintainers, grow contributors, and help champion our projects in the open source ecosystem.
The Linux Foundation’s Confidential Computing Consortium (CCC) is proud to announce Sal Kimmich joining as the Technical Community Architect. Sal’s career started by sharing Python scripts with other computational neuroscientists in the wild world of supercomputing. A decade later, they are still paying attention to the algorithmic side of open source tech.
Before joining CCC, Sal worked as a scalable SecDevOps Machine Learning engineer and brought those contributions to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF). They have focused on practical automation around security best practices that make the maintainer’s lives easier, like Security Slams.
At CCC, we are building the landscape for Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) at the Linux Foundation as it becomes as Confidential Computing becomes foundational to cross-industry security practicesConfidentiality of data in use is also a cornerstone of digital progress: having hardware level trust in compute is critical to the wave of critical technologies in both edge and cloud.
Sal’s vision for CCC is clear – to make maintainers’ work enjoyable and rewarding, to create tech demos that dazzle, and to showcase the world-class Open Source Projects enabling secure computation. 2024 marks the start of an incredible year of compute, collaboration and community expansion ahead, as runtime security takes the spotlight in emerging tech.
This year has been a big one for the Confidential Computing Consortium, with a great deal of activity in the technical, outreach and governance spheres. The most obvious difference was the Governing Board’s decision to appoint me as Executive Director. I’ve been involved with the CCC since its inception in a variety of roles, from Premier member representative to Treasurer to General member representative to the Governing Board. I’m delighted to be involved, working with the many members I already knew and getting to know those I didn’t, or who have joined recently. Another major change was that our Chair of the GB since the foundation of the CCC in October 2019, Stephen Walli of Microsoft, stepped down, handing over to the previous vice-Chair, Ron Perez of Intel. The transition was seamless, and we thank Stephen for his amazing leadership and service and Ron for his stepping up into the role.
Member survey
One of my first actions as Executive Director was to initiate a survey to help align the activities of the Consortium with members’ priorities. This was backed up by conversations with various members and was extremely helpful in allowing me to decide where to be putting in the most effort. The main priorities expressed were:
End-User involvement
Use cases
Regulator/standards engagement
Industry visibility
Increased AsiaPac activity/involvement
Member meet-ups
Conference speaking
The Governing Board endorsed these and they have set the scene for the work we have been doing for the second half the year and will continue into 2024. I am planning a similar survey next year.
TAC and SIGs
The Technical Advisory Council (TAC) continues to be well-attended and the venue for much discussion, generally meeting for two hours every two weeks. We often host presentations from external bodies or projects which are relevant or technically adjacent to Confidential Computing. Another important task that the TAC undertakes is working with open source projects which are interested in joining the CCC. The TAC provides technical and governance oversight and support through the process, and we currently have seven projects, with another two close to admission and at least two more going through the process. Having a strong ecosystem of open source projects is vital for the healthy growth of Confidential Computing and is one of the core aims of the CCC.
The TAC also administers and coordinates the activities of several Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The number of these increased to three this year: the Governance, Risk & Compliance SIG (GRC), the Attestation SIG and the Linux kernel SIG. This last (and newest) is intended to work with the Linux kernel community to shepherd in work from members and the community and to allow communication to avoid “surprise” architectural or design changes and ease acceptance of new CC-related work.
Another important decision which is related to the work of the TAC was the decision to recruit a Technical Community Architect (TCA) to help coordinate the work of the TAC, the SIGs and the open source projects as the work they do grows. More news on this will follow very shortly.
Brief listing of activities through the year
The Confidential Computing Consortium was involved in many activities during the year, including sponsoring, attending or participating in conferences across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. The list below includes most of the significant activities.
Jan/Feb
FOSDEM – Brussels State of Open Con – London
Mar/Apr
FOSS Backstage – Berlin and online OC3 – online Website refresh and update Mike Bursell appointed as Executive Director
Inaugural Confidential Computing Summit (250 attendees) – recordings available on-demand) and Happy Hour – San Francisco
Aug/Sep
DEFCON – Las Vegas Diana Initiative – Las Vegas OSS EU – Bilbao Kubecon Asia – Shanghai
Oct/Nov
LF Member Summit – Monterey PET Summit Asia – Singapore
Dec
OSS Japan – Tokyo
New members
We are delighted to have welcomed the following new members in 2023:
Acurast
BeekeeperAI
California Health Medical Reserve Corps
Canonical Group Limited
Cryptosat
enclaive
Hushmesh
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
SUSE LLC
Spectro Cloud, Inc.
We have a number of other organizations currently considering membership, who we hope to welcome early in 2024.
Planning for 2024
As we move into 2024, we have lots of plans to continue promoting Confidential Computing globally. Here are some areas in which you can expect to see movement:
Clearly definition of the benefits of membership is available on the website
Closer work with and support for start-ups in the ecosystem
Lots of events, including an expanded Confidential Computing Summit
A marketing package for events to allow quicker and further reaching involvement for all members attending
Work on use cases
Appearance of our new Technical Community Architect
Final word
I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the Confidential Computing Consortium and the larger ecosystem over the past twelve months. In particular, thank you to all those who make the CCC work through their involvement with our various committees and SIGs. I would also like to send our best wishes to Helen Lau from the Linux Foundation who has departed (for now, we hope!) on parental leave and to thank Ben Sternthal and Riann Kleinhans for their work in supporting our mission. Finally, may I wish you all the best for the festive season and a prosperous New Year.
Mike Bursell Executive Director, Confidential Computing Consortium
We’re delighted to announce that the Confidential Computing Consortium is hosting a Mini Summit co-located with Open Source Summit Europe in Bilbao in September. The Mini Summit will take place during the afternoon of Monday, 18th September, the day before the main OSS EU conference.
Call for Proposals for the Confidential Computing Mini Summit are open! We welcome submissions on any relevant content to present at this summit. Submit your proposal here!
Important Dates:
CFP deadline: Aug 13, 2023
Speaker notification: Aug 18, 2023
Session type:
30 min session
Topic area:
Use case deep dive
EU open source project & communities
(Open) Surprise us with a hot topic!
It’s a great opportunity to meet other members of the community, hear sessions from leaders in the industry and enjoy a little more time in Spain! In-person registration is just $10 to your existing OSS EU ticket, and virtual registration is free. We look forward to seeing you there!
On Thursday, 29th June 2023, the first Confidential Computing Summit was held at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco. Organized by Opaque Systems and the Confidential Computing Consortium, it comprised 38 sessions delivered by 44 speakers and panelists, with 244 attendees – over twice the expected number. Although initially planned as a single track event, the number of responses to the Call for Papers was so large that the agenda was split into three tracks, with keynotes starting and ending the event.
Sessions covered a broad range of topics, from state of the industry and outlook, to deep-dive technical discussions. One of the key themes of the Summit, however, was the application of Confidential Computing to real-life use cases, with presentations by end users as well as suppliers of Confidential Computing technologies. The relevance of Confidential Computing to AI was a recurring topic as data and model privacy is emerging as a major concern for many users, particularly those with requirements to share data with untrusted parties whether partners or even competitors for multi-party collaboration. Other use cases included private messaging, anti-money laundering, Edge computing, regulatory compliance, Big Data, examination security and data sovereignty. Use cases for Confidential Computing ranged across multiple sectors, including telecommunications, banking, insurance, healthcare and AdTech. Sessions ranged from high-level commercial use case discussions to low-level technical considerations.
There was an exhibitor hall which doubled as meeting space and included booths from the CCC and Opaque Systems plus the Summit’s premier sponsors (Microsoft, Intel, VMware, Arm, Anjuna, Fortanix, Edgeless Systems, Cosmian). The venue also had sufficient space (and seating with branded cushions!) for a busy “hallway track”. For many attendees, the ability to meet other industry professionals in person for the first time was as valuable a reason to attend the Summit as the session – while virtual conferences can have value, the conversations held face-to-face at the conference provided opportunities for networking that would have been impossible without real-world interactions.
The Confidential Computing Consortium would like to thank Opaque Systems and the program committee for their hard work in organizing this event. Given the success of the Summit, plans are already underway for a larger instance next year. Please keep an eye on this blog and other news outlets for information. We look forward to seeing you there!
