Confidential Computing is a cutting-edge technology that protects the most sensitive information by focusing on privacy with hardware-based trusted execution environments. This emerging security model is in high demand today as more data-driven businesses migrate to the cloud, particularly in highly regulated industries like banking that handle large volumes of highly sensitive data. Given the excellent prospects for this sector, investors could see it as an attractive investment opportunity.
The demand for cybersecurity services is increasing
Critical data breaches have become more frequent in recent years in the unstable world political situation. Misuse of a nation’s critical data for warfare is becoming more common as it can easily damage government and civilian infrastructure and disrupt critical systems, causing severe harm to the state and its citizens. For example, during the Russo-Georgian war in 2008, Russia used a series of cyberattacks to disable various websites, including the Georgian Parliament website. The National Bank of Georgia suspended all electronic operations for 12 days due to the large-scale cyber attack.
In addition, life has become increasingly digitized in recent years. Due to Covid-19 in particular, the hybrid work culture has spread worldwide and supported the growing need for confidential data processing. Many have begun to adopt a hybrid model, from large enterprises to startups, increasing demand for cybersecurity solutions and services that address the security challenges of a distributed workforce. Due to the trend towards remote work, 64 billion Information of Things devices are expected to be installed worldwide by 2026.
The evolving security architecture is critical for businesses, especially critical infrastructure providers, and its importance is growing as political conflicts between nations escalate. As a result, governments are investing more money in protecting their critical data, fueling the growth of confidential computer market. According to Research and Markets, the global confidential computer market was valued at US$2.19 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.46% until 2027.
The concept of confidential computing
Encryption is an essential part of today’s privacy protection technology infrastructure because it allows data to remain private even when transmitted over the Internet. The cybersecurity market has already discovered a way to encrypt data at rest as well as data in transit over the network. However, ciphers cannot protect data and code currently in use in storage because computer hardware requires them to be decrypted and disclosed before encryption keys are used. Unfortunately, this situation leaves confidential information in the cloud at risk.
Confidential Computing approaches this problem with a new concept. It allows data and applications to run in secure enclaves, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and code integrity. This hardware-enabled technique for code execution and data protection prevents unauthorized access even when the computing infrastructure is disrupted.
Confidential computer companies worth following
With the increasing demand for advanced, automated security systems and threat detection, few companies have developed or are exploring a possible solution to thwart the threats posed by cybercriminals with government investment or in cooperation with large corporations.
Applied Blockchain Inc. (APLD, Financial) creates, develops and operates data centers to provide digital infrastructure solutions for the high-performance computing industry. The company has developed confidential computing solutions to prevent unauthorized access to confidential data using state-of-the-art platforms such as Intel SGX, R3 Conclave and Microsoft Azure. Applied Blockchain is also a member of the Confidential Computing Consortium, a platform whose mission is to define and accelerate the commercial acceptance and use of confidential computing.
microsoft corp (MSFT, Financial) Azure Confidential Computing is also driving transformation. The platform enables multi-party data analytics and machine learning that combine datasets while keeping the data private between participants, and provides hardware, services, SDKs, and deployment tools. The company also offers confidential VMs, which enable the deployment of confidential workloads without the need to modify existing applications or code, and confidential containers, which enable the deployment of containerized applications with a fully managed Kubernetes service.
Alphabet Inc. (WELL, Financially)(Google, Financial) Google also announced its cloud security program for confidential virtual machines. Google worked with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Financial) on secure encrypted virtualization technology, which is hardware-accelerated storage encryption to protect the data used to ensure high performance for various workloads. The virtual machines are powered by third-generation AMD EPYC processors.
With several existing tech giants gradually introducing new ways to secure data and applications, there are also emerging players to consider, which represent a great entry point for investors looking to capitalize on the fast-growing confidential computing market.
CrowdStrike Holding Inc. (CRWD, Financial) is a company redefining the security market by providing advanced cloud-native platforms for endpoint, cloud workload, identity and data protection. Its Falcon platform, a SaaS subscription-based model, is designed to stop security breaches through a unified set of cloud-delivered technologies that prevent attacks. The company provides threat intelligence, managed security, information technology operations management, zero trust identity protection, and log management services.
Hub Cyber Security Ltd. (XTAE:HUB, Financial) is another emerging player with a first-mover advantage in this market that intends to reinvent cybersecurity through quantum-enabled confidential computing. The company was founded in 2017 by veterans of Israel’s elite intelligence community to protect sensitive business and government information. Hub has developed a revolutionary suite of data theft protection technologies that provide end-to-end data protection throughout the data lifecycle, as well as a sophisticated encrypted computing solution designed to prevent hardware-level hostile attacks. The company also received FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification, the highest security level for cryptographic modules in the United States, for its powerful and groundbreaking technologies.
Hub is a member of the Confidential Computing Consortium along with Applied Blockchain, Microsoft and Google. Collectively, these companies offer investors exceptional prospects for cybersecurity and confidential computing.
