SecureCloud: Secure Big Data Processing in Untrusted Clouds

TL;DR

SecureCloud introduces a layered architecture leveraging Intel SGX to enable secure big data processing in untrusted cloud environments, focusing on privacy-preserving applications like smart grids.

Contribution

It presents a novel architecture for secure micro-services and big data applications in untrusted clouds using hardware security features.

Findings

SecureCloud enables secure deployment of micro-services.

Initial results show effective data protection.

Application to smart grids demonstrates practical viability.

Abstract

We present the SecureCloud EU Horizon 2020 project, whose goal is to enable new big data applications that use sensitive data in the cloud without compromising data security and privacy. For this, SecureCloud designs and develops a layered architecture that allows for (i) the secure creation and deployment of secure micro-services; (ii) the secure integration of individual micro-services to full-fledged big data applications; and (iii) the secure execution of these applications within untrusted cloud environments. To provide security guarantees, SecureCloud leverages novel security mechanisms present in recent commodity CPUs, in particular, Intel's Software Guard Extensions (SGX). SecureCloud applies this architecture to big data applications in the context of smart grids. We describe the SecureCloud approach, initial results, and considered use cases.