17810291. ISOLATED RUNTIME ENVIRONMENTS FOR SECURING SECRETS USED TO ACCESS REMOTE RESOURCES FROM COMPUTE INSTANCES simplified abstract (Amazon Technologies, Inc.)

ISOLATED RUNTIME ENVIRONMENTS FOR SECURING SECRETS USED TO ACCESS REMOTE RESOURCES FROM COMPUTE INSTANCES

Organization Name

Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Inventor(s)

Joshua Benjamin Levinson of Seattle WA (US)

Colm Maccarthaigh of Seattle WA (US)

Alexander Graf of Seattle WA (US)

Iulia-Daniela Doras-prodan of Seattle WA (US)

Petre Eftime of Seattle WA (US)

ISOLATED RUNTIME ENVIRONMENTS FOR SECURING SECRETS USED TO ACCESS REMOTE RESOURCES FROM COMPUTE INSTANCES - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17810291 titled 'ISOLATED RUNTIME ENVIRONMENTS FOR SECURING SECRETS USED TO ACCESS REMOTE RESOURCES FROM COMPUTE INSTANCES

Simplified Explanation

The abstract describes a patent application for an isolated runtime environment for secrets management in a virtualization server. Here is a simplified explanation of the abstract:

• An isolated runtime environment is created on a virtualization server to manage secrets securely.
• The environment uses a subset of memory that is inaccessible from external entities.
• A secrets manager in the environment generates a security artifact for an application running on the compute instance.
• The artifact is created using a security secret associated with the compute instance, which is not accessible externally.
• The application gains access to the requested resource if the artifact is valid.

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in industries where secure management of sensitive information is crucial, such as finance, healthcare, and government sectors.

Problems Solved

This technology addresses the issue of securely managing secrets and sensitive information within a virtualized environment, protecting them from external threats and unauthorized access.

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include enhanced security for sensitive data, improved compliance with data protection regulations, and increased trust in the confidentiality of information.

Potential Commercial Applications

Potential commercial applications of this technology include secure cloud computing services, data storage solutions, and cybersecurity products.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art for this technology could be the use of hardware security modules (HSMs) for secure key management in virtualized environments.

How does this technology impact performance in virtualized environments?

This article does not address the potential impact on performance that implementing this technology may have in virtualized environments. It would be important to understand if there are any trade-offs between security and performance.

What are the scalability limitations of this technology?

The article does not discuss the scalability limitations of this technology. It would be important to know if there are any constraints on the number of compute instances or resources that can be managed securely within the isolated runtime environment.

Original Abstract Submitted

An instance secrets management isolated runtime environment is launched at a virtualization server, and utilizes a subset of memory assigned to a compute instance. The subset of memory is inaccessible from entities external to the runtime environment. A secrets manager of the runtime environment provides a security artifact to an application, running at the compute instance, which has requested access to a resource. The artifact is generated by the secrets manager using a security secret associated with the compute instance; the secret is not accessible to programs external to the runtime environment. In response to a determination that the artifact is valid, the application obtains access to the resource.