A Method for Comparative Analysis of Trusted Execution Environments
The problem of secure remote computation has become a serious concern of hardware manufacturers and software developers alike. Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) are a solution to the problem of secure remote computation in applications ranging from “chip and pin” financial transactions to intellectual property protection in modern gaming systems. While extensive literature has been published about many of these technologies, there exists no current model for comparing TEEs. This thesis provides hardware architects and designers with a set of tools for comparing TEEs. I do so by examining several properties of a TEE and comparing their implementations in several technologies. I found that several features can be detailed out into multiple sub-feature sets, which can be used in comparisons. The intent is that choosing between different technologies can be done in a rigorous way, taking into account the current features available to TEEs.