1,558 research outputs found
Security, Performance and Energy Trade-offs of Hardware-assisted Memory Protection Mechanisms
The deployment of large-scale distributed systems, e.g., publish-subscribe
platforms, that operate over sensitive data using the infrastructure of public
cloud providers, is nowadays heavily hindered by the surging lack of trust
toward the cloud operators. Although purely software-based solutions exist to
protect the confidentiality of data and the processing itself, such as
homomorphic encryption schemes, their performance is far from being practical
under real-world workloads.
The performance trade-offs of two novel hardware-assisted memory protection
mechanisms, namely AMD SEV and Intel SGX - currently available on the market to
tackle this problem, are described in this practical experience.
Specifically, we implement and evaluate a publish/subscribe use-case and
evaluate the impact of the memory protection mechanisms and the resulting
performance. This paper reports on the experience gained while building this
system, in particular when having to cope with the technical limitations
imposed by SEV and SGX.
Several trade-offs that provide valuable insights in terms of latency,
throughput, processing time and energy requirements are exhibited by means of
micro- and macro-benchmarks.Comment: European Commission Project: LEGaTO - Low Energy Toolset for
Heterogeneous Computing (EC-H2020-780681
SoK: A Systematic Review of TEE Usage for Developing Trusted Applications
Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) are a feature of modern central
processing units (CPUs) that aim to provide a high assurance, isolated
environment in which to run workloads that demand both confidentiality and
integrity. Hardware and software components in the CPU isolate workloads,
commonly referred to as Trusted Applications (TAs), from the main operating
system (OS). This article aims to analyse the TEE ecosystem, determine its
usability, and suggest improvements where necessary to make adoption easier. To
better understand TEE usage, we gathered academic and practical examples from a
total of 223 references. We summarise the literature and provide a publication
timeline, along with insights into the evolution of TEE research and
deployment. We categorise TAs into major groups and analyse the tools available
to developers. Lastly, we evaluate trusted container projects, test
performance, and identify the requirements for migrating applications inside
them.Comment: In The 18th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and
Security (ARES 2023), August 29 -- September 01, 2023, Benevento, Italy. 15
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