Trusted Execution Environments

This book takes a holistic view of TEEs, examining their roots in smart cards and CPU protection rings developed in the 20th century, to the release of modern commercial TEEs, such as Intel SGX and ARM TrustZone. An extensive range of paradigms are explored for implementing secure and trusted execution environments, including the use of dedicated security chips, integrated system-on-chip extensions and virtualisation technologies. The relevant industry standards and specifications are covered in detail, along with methods of evaluating secure and trusted execution platforms. Moreover, the application of TEEs in common security mechanisms are also discussed as use cases, covering secure boot chains, biometric authentication and file-based encryption. Looking at present challenges, attacks against TEEs are introduced, alongside concerns relating to technical fragmentation, interoperability, privacy and transparency. Lastly, potential future directions are examined, which may be used by the trusted execution environments of tomorrow.Trusted execution environments (TEEs) protect sensitive code and data, even when the host operating system is compromised. Once a technical curiosity in the early-2000s, TEEs are becoming a key building block for maintaining the security of cloud computing and the Internet of Things platforms. Today, TEEs have been deployed on billions of devices globally, and are used by major technology vendors for protecting payment credentials; personal files; user secrets, e.g. fingerprint images; copyrighted video content; and many others. Despite this, TEEs remain poorly understood due to their rapid emergence, complexity and diversity. This book also addresses this gap, providing a comprehensive treatment of different TEE technologies, their features, benefits and shortcomings.This book targets practitioners and researchers working in cyber security, particularly computer security, e.g. penetration testers, security engineers and security analysts. University students (postgraduate and advanced undergraduates) as well as professors in computer science and electrical engineering will also find this book to be a valuable resource.