EU project TRESCCA makes the cloud safe(r)

Users rather move data to the cloud than purchasing another external storage medium. So far, no satisfactory solutions exist in terms of data security, so providers and users of cloud computing do not really have a trusting relationship.

On top of that, the classic encryption methods are suitable for data storage, but only in a very limited degree for further processing of security-critical data.

The EU project TRESCCA, which is coordinated by the German OFFIS – Institute for Information Technology, applies itself since October 2012 to the solution of these problems. The objective of the project is to secure network-enabled edge devices against software and hardware-based attacks.

By use of hardware security modules and virtualization with live migration to isolate individual processes, the basis for a secure and trusted cloud platform is created. Safety-critical applications can run in a secure environment on the user side and non-safety-critical ones can be outsourced to the cloud safely.

By doing so, the cloud provider can make sure that applications on the client side, such as smart metering are not compromised. The project develops and demonstrates a hardware / software solution that allows future users to delegate safety-critical tasks to external providers. Thus opens a whole new area of cloud services.

TRESCCA will last 36 months and is now starting after the successful kick-off meeting in early October in the first phase. The other international partners from science and industry are CoSynth GmbH, Institut Telecom-Mines, Virtual Open Systems SARL, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, ST Microelectronics Grenoble 2 SAS, Wellness Telecom SL. By involving an advisory board the project faces the external discourse.

Contact:
Dr. Gunnar Schomaker
Group Manager Energy Efficiency in ICT
phone: +49 (0)441 9722-241
E-Mail: gunnar.schomaker@offis.de