When crucial data is moved to public cloud, confidential computing is used. It is a response to security and privacy concerns in the cloud. We know inside the hotel rooms, we get a safe with a separate key to keep our valuables. Hotel staff cannot access these valuables.

Confidential computing is akin to providing such safes or enclaves where users have complete control over their data.

This environment is hardware-based. It is called Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). It protects data both at rest and in transit. It also protects data in processing. Encryption protects data at rest and in transit. Confidential computing protects even data at the processing stage.

The data being processed can be accessed only by an authorised programming code. It is not visible to others, including the cloud provider.

This technology is nascent and is breakthrough technology. It is crucial for health and financial services. Industry 4.0 will benefit from it too.

IBM provides this technology. Open standards are being developed for confidential computing. This technology will also facilitate early adoption of cloud computing.