Triad: Trusted Timestamps in Untrusted Environments

Research output: Contribution to conferencesPaperContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

We aim to provide trusted time measurement mechanisms to applications and cloud infrastructure deployed in environments that could harbor potential adversaries, including the hardware infrastructure provider. Despite Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) providing multiple security functionalities, timestamps from the Operating System are not covered. Nevertheless, some services require time for validating permissions or ordering events. To address that need, we introduce Triad, a trusted timestamp dispatcher of time readings. The solution provides trusted timestamps enforced by mutually supportive enclave-based clock servers that create a continuous trusted timeline. We leverage enclave properties such as forced exits and CPU-based counters to mitigate attacks on the server's timestamp counters. Triad produces trusted, confidential, monotonically-increasing timestamps with bounded error and desirable, non-trivial properties. Our implementation relies on Intel SGX and SCONE, allowing transparent usage. We evaluate Triad's error and behavior in multiple dimensions.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages8
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

Conference

Title14th IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science‍
Abbreviated titleCloudCom 2023
Conference number14
Duration4 - 6 December 2023
Website
Degree of recognitionInternational event
LocationRoyal Hotel & online
CityNapoli
CountryItaly

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards

Keywords

  • Trusted Computing, istributed Systems, TEE, Trusted Clocks