System and method for providing secure virtual machines

摘要

The present invention provides improved security in a virtual machine. By extending the capabilities of modern secure processors, privacy of computation is provided from both the owner of the equipment and other users executing on the processor, which is an advantageous feature for rentable, secure computers. In addition to the hardware extensions required to secure a virtualizable computer, an infrastructure for the deployment of such processors is also provided. Furthermore, a signaling flow to establish the various relationships between the owner, user and manufacturer of the equipment is disclosed.

主权项

1. A method for hosting a secure virtual machine, instantiated by a user, on a computer processor provided by an owner, comprising the steps of:
booting said computer processor with a zone manager image to start a zone manager session in accordance with a computer processor private key; procuring at said computer processor a first public/private key pair (KZM, KZM−1) associated with the zone manager session; generating a certificate (C(ZM)) for the public key (KZM) of said first public/private key pair using said private key associated with said computer processor; receiving, at said computer processor running the zone manager, a secure virtual machine instantiation command from said owner as requested by said user, said secure virtual machine instantiation command including a certificate of said user (C(user)); creating between said zone manager and said user a secure communication channel; creating, at said computer processor running the zone manager, a second public/private key pair (KSVM, KSVM−1) associated with the secure virtual machine; generating a certificate (C(SVM)) for the public key of said second public/private key pair with the private key of said first public/private key pair; and creating, between said secure virtual machine and said user a second secure communication channel certified by C(user) and C(SVM).