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Confidential Computing & TEEs

TEE architectures, remote attestation, memory encryption, TEE-HSM integration, and quantum threat analysis for confidential computing.

Why this matters: TEEs and PQC solve different problems — remote attestation, not confidentiality-at-rest — but a compromised TEE root of trust and a broken classical signature fail the same way: silently, until it's too late.

Start here: Design the TEE-HSM Trusted Channel in step 4: mutual attestation between enclave and HSM, then PQC key provisioning across it.

For your role

Developer / Engineer
Compare seven TEE architectures in Step 1, step through remote attestation for Intel DCAP, ARM CCA and AMD SEV in Step 2, then design the TEE-to-HSM trusted channel in Step 4: the same flow the TEE-HSM Secure Channel tool runs live.
Security Architect
Step 4's TEE-HSM Trusted Channel designs mutual attestation and PQC key provisioning between an enclave and an HSM, and Step 5 assesses quantum risk per TEE component into a prioritised migration plan.
Researcher / Academic
Step 3 covers memory encryption engines, sealing-key derivation and the Grover margin on symmetric keys; the attestation flows in Step 2 are per vendor, which is where the differences live.
IT Ops / DevOps
Step 5's per-component quantum risk assessment and migration plan is the operational output; Step 1's architecture comparison says which TEE features your platforms expose today.
Practice in the Simulation

A is a hardware-isolated region of a processor that guarantees confidentiality and integrity of code and data loaded inside it. Unlike traditional OS-level isolation, TEEs protect workloads even when the operating system, hypervisor, or firmware has been fully compromised.

Code running inside a TEE operates within an enclave — a protected memory region where the processor enforces access control in hardware. Data inside the enclave is encrypted in DRAM, decrypted only within the CPU cache, and inaccessible to any software outside the enclave boundary.

TEEs Protect Against

  • • Compromised operating system or hypervisor
  • • Malicious cloud administrator or co-tenant
  • • Cold boot attacks and DRAM bus snooping
  • • DMA attacks from peripheral devices
  • • Software-level privilege escalation

TEEs Do NOT Protect Against

  • • Microarchitectural side channels (Spectre, Meltdown)
  • • Supply chain attacks on CPU manufacturing
  • • Bugs within the enclave code itself
  • • Denial-of-service (host can starve enclave)
  • • Physical decapping and FIB probing

Trusted Computing Base (TCB)

The TCB is the set of all hardware, firmware, and software components that must function correctly for the security guarantees to hold. A smaller TCB means fewer components can undermine security. Process-level TEEs (SGX) have the smallest TCB — just the CPU and enclave code. VM-level TEEs (TDX, SEV-SNP) include the guest OS, resulting in a larger but more practical TCB.

Data Protection Comparison

Data at Rest

Encrypted on disk via AES-XTS or similar. Protected by volume encryption (LUKS, BitLocker) or database-level TDE.

WELL-ESTABLISHED
Data in Transit

Encrypted over the network via TLS 1.3, IPsec, or WireGuard. Protects against eavesdropping and tampering during transmission.

WELL-ESTABLISHED
Data in Use

Encrypted in memory while being processed. TEEs provide hardware-enforced isolation so data remains protected during computation.

EMERGING (TEE-DEPENDENT)

Protect data in use without trusting the hardware

A TEE asks you to trust the chip vendor and an attestation chain. Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) trusts the mathematics instead: the server computes on ciphertexts and never sees the data, at the cost of speed. It has its own module, including how an HSM holds the FHE keys.

Homomorphic Encryption

Ready to explore TEE architectures?

Compare vendor security properties, simulate attestation flows, and assess PQC migration readiness in the interactive workshop.

Related Resources

HSM & PQC
Hardware roots of trust for TEE attestation keys
KMS & PQC
Sealing key management and PQC key wrapping for enclaves
PKI Workshop
Certificate infrastructure for remote attestation chains
Secure Boot & PQC
UEFI and firmware signing that underpins TEE security

Products shown here are a representative selection — not an exhaustive list. For the full vendor landscape with PQC readiness status, visit the Tools & Products tab in this module or browse the Migrate catalog →

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Related modules

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15 questions on Confidential Computing & TEEs, each with its answer and the reason.

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Next step

Practice it: TEE-HSM Secure Channel

TEE-HSM Secure Channel is the hands-on version of this module: the same ideas, run in your browser.

Learning module content can be inaccurate. Please double-check its information. Report inaccuracies in PQC Today GitHub Discussions.