Runtime encryption

While encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest (disk encryption) have become widespread, confidential computing completes data protection. It secures data at runtime—ensuring encryption throughout its entire lifecycle.

In Continuum, all workloads run inside AMD SEV-SNP based Confidential VMs (CVMs).

With SEV-SNP, the memory of virtual machines (VMs) is encrypted. The processor manages encryption keys and ensures they're not accessible by untrusted software. Because encryption is hardware-accelerated, performance penalties are minimal. This reduces the attack surface, shielding workloads from:

• Unauthorized Access: Even if a malicious actor compromises the server-side system including the hypervisor or other VMs, SEV-SNP's encryption makes your data unreadable.
• Sophisticated Memory Attacks: SEV-SNP goes beyond confidentiality by adding integrity protection. It ensures that the data your VM reads is the same data it previously wrote, preventing tampering attempts.