On security in encrypted computing

Abstract

Encrypted computing is an emerging approach to security and privacy of user data on a computing system with respect to the operating system and other powerful insiders as adversaries. It is based on a processor that ‘works encrypted’, taking encrypted inputs to encrypted outputs while data remains in encrypted form throughout processing. An appropriate machine code instruction set is required, plus an ‘obfuscating’ compiler, and then the three part system provably provides cryptographic semantic security for user data, given that the encryption is independently secure. In other words, encrypted computing does not compromise the encryption. This paper presents the developing theory.