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Abstract-We present a novel approach to building hardware support for providing strong security guarantees for computations running in the cloud (shared hardware in massive data centers), while maintaining the high performance and low cost that make cloud computing attractive in the first place. We propose augmenting regular cloud servers with a Trusted Computation Base (TCB) that can securely perform high-performance computations. Our TCB achieves cost savings by spreading functionality across two paired chips. We show that making a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) a part of the TCB benefits security and performance, and we explore a new method for defending the computation inside the TCB against sidechannel attacks.

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Abstract. This paper introduces the Trusted Execution Module (TEM); a high-level specification for a commodity chip that can execute user-supplied procedures in a trusted environment. The TEM is capable of securely executing partially-encrypted procedures/closures expressing arbitrary computation. These closures can be generated by any (potentially untrusted) party who knows the TEM's public encryption key. Compared to a conventional smartcard, which is typically used by pre-programming a limited set of domain-or application-specific commands onto the smartcard, and compared to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is limited to a fixed set of cryptographic functions that cannot be combined to provide general-purpose trusted computing, the TEM is significantly more flexible. Yet we present a working implementation using existing inexpensive Javacard smartcards that does not require any export-restricted technology. The TEM's design enables a new style of programming, which in turn enables new applications. We show that the TEM's guarantees of secure execution enable exciting applications that include, but are not limited to, mobile agents, peer-topeer multiplayer online games, and anonymous offline payments.

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