Introducing the trusted virtual environment module: a new mechanism for rooting trust in cloud computing

  • Authors:

  • F. John Krautheim;Dhananjay S. Phatak;Alan T. Sherman

  • Affiliations:

  • Cyber Defense Lab, Dept. of CSEE, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD;Cyber Defense Lab, Dept. of CSEE, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD;Cyber Defense Lab, Dept. of CSEE, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

  • Venue:
  • TRUST'10 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Trust and trustworthy computing
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

We introduce a new mechanism for rooting trust in a cloud computing environment called the Trusted Virtual Environment Module (TVEM). The TVEM helps solve the core security challenge of cloud computing by enabling parties to establish trust relationships where an information owner creates and runs a virtual environment on a platform owned by a separate service provider. The TVEM is a software appliance that provides enhanced features for cloud virtual environments over existing Trusted Platform Module virtualization techniques, which includes an improved application program interface, cryptographic algorithm flexibility, and a configurable modular architecture. We define a unique Trusted Environment Key that combines trust from the information owner and the service provider to create a dual root of trust for the TVEM that is distinct for every virtual environment and separate from the platform's trust. This paper presents the requirements, design, and architecture of our approach.