Democratizing Secure Computing: A Rapid Deployment Framework & Management Layer for Confidential Compute Environments

The Outpost proposes to develop a cloud-agnostic Confidential Computing Environment (CCE) deployment framework for Kubernetes (K8) clusters using Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs). This solution addresses the critical challenge of securing sensitive Air Force data during active computation by encrypting both workloads and the control plane within K8 clusters. The framework eliminates vulnerabilities associated with data left unencrypted in memory (RAM), which is susceptible to insiderthreats, unauthorized access by malicious administrators, and external adversaries in shared cloud environments. Our approach allows the Air Force to deploy entire Kubernetes clusters with full encryption throughout the data lifecycle—protecting data at rest, in transit, and during processing—while abstracting away deployment complexity and eliminating reliance on third-party trust.