Private Cloud Compute Security Guide

For the experts out there, how does this compare with AWS Nitro?

AWS Nitro (and Nitro Enclaves) are general computing platforms, so it's different. You'd need to write a PCC-like system/application on top of AWS Nitro Enclaves to make a direct comparison. A breakdown of those 5 core requirements from Apple:

1. Stateless computation on personal user data - a property of the application

2. Enforceable guarantees - a property of the application; Nitro Enclaves attestation helps here

3. No privileged runtime access - maps directly to the no administrative API access in the AWS Nitro System platform

4. Non-targetability - a property of the application

5. Verifiable transparency - a mix of the application and the platform; Nitro Enclaves attestation helps here

To be a little more concrete: (1 stateless) You could write an app that statelessly processes user data, and build it into a Nitro Enclave. This has a particular software measurement (PCR0) and can be code-signed (PCR8) and verified at runtime (2 enforceable) using Nitro Enclave Attestation. This also provides integrity protection. You get (3 no access) for "free" by running it in Nitro to begin with (from AWS - you also need to ensure there is no application-level admin access). You would need to design (4 non-targetable) as part of your application. For (5 transparency), you could provide your code to researchers as Apple is doing.

(I work with AWS Nitro Enclaves for various security/privacy use cases at Anjuna. Some of these resemble PCC and I hope we can share more details about the customer use cases eventually.)

Some sources:

- NCC Group Audit on the Nitro System https://www.nccgroup.com/us/research-blog/public-report-aws-...

- Nitro Enclaves attestation process: https://github.com/aws/aws-nitro-enclaves-nsm-api/blob/main/...