Trusted virtual disk images

Abstract

Many solutions have been proposed to raise the security level of virtualisation. However, most overlook the security of virtual disk images. With our paper we present a secure, flexible and transparent security architecture for virtual disk images. Virtual machines running on our architecture transparently benefit from confidentiality and integrity assurance. We achieve this by incorporating the concepts of Trusted Computing and in particular the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). This enables us to provide a secure and flexible trusted virtual disk infrastructure to a broad number of platforms. Furthermore, the unique concept of Trusted Virtual Disk Images (TVDI) allows an image owner to stay in control over the disk image throughout its complete life-cycle. © 2009 Vieweg+Teubner Verlag | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.