Secure Virtualization for Secure Networking Capabilities

Advances in secure virtualization provide the potential to deliver the benefits of virtualization enjoyed by commercial sector to the security-critical networking domain. While traditional virtualization technologies do not provide a sufficient level of trust to be used in security-critical scenarios, several state-of-the-art secure virtualization solutions have emerged that would support these use cases. The proposed research aims to develop an architecture for secure virtualization that can be applied to secure networking capabilities with the goal of improving the agility of secure networks while simultaneously reducing their space, weight, and power SWaP requirements. To accomplish these goals, the Virtual Secure Enclave (VSE) capability will be used as a representative use case for which a secure virtualization architecture will be developed. VSE is a newly developed high-value capability that faces challenges due to SWaP resection in potential target platforms. The successful development of a virtualization solution for VSE will both enhance the VSE capability improving its likelihood of its adoption, as well as rationalize the use of secure virtualization in the secure networking domain. Following the VSE specific analysis, a generalized secure virtualization architecture for secure networking capabilities will be abstracted and additional potential applications will be identified.