rkt-io

A Survey of Trusted Computing Solutions Using FPGAs

“…This relatively new extension of Intel architecture supports a new set of instructions and a new memory access mechanism, to save code in a container called "enclave" and exclude unprivileged software from the trusted computing base [44], [53]. However, as later explained, SGX incurs significant overheads when trusted domain code accesses I/O or other untrusted resources [1]. Furthermore, SGX is vulnerable to various memory-based side-channel attacks [53].…”

“…While there are emerging works that aim to reduce the overhead of dealing with I/O from TEEs [1], it is still an open question how to most efficiently create TEE-based applications that communicate over the network and use large amounts of data. As a related work demonstrates, [1], part of the problem lies in the Operating System and various software-layer crossings, and part of it lies in the hardware design underlying the TEE. These challenges could be addressed with FPGAs.…”

“…At the same time, cloud computing introduces many security concerns to which FPGAs and other accelerators are also not immune. Trust in cloud computing is a fundamental concept that drives the relationship between a cloud provider and a user, and even though offering trusted execution using general-purpose hardware today would inevitably introduce performance bottlenecks [1], it is also an opportunity. Cloud providers that offer various trusted computing solutions can establish a stronger position and achieve a better reputation in the eyes of cloud users [2]- [4].…”