Key points
- What the three companies want to standardize
- Why protect keys inside the server
- When the first draft could arrive
Marvell Technology (MRVL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Oracle (ORCL) are developing an open standard for hardware that protects encryption keys inside data center servers. The companies announced an Open Compute Project working group on October 13 to define the design.
The proposed integrated hardware security module would store keys and perform cryptographic operations within a protected hardware boundary. The group is targeting validation at NIST's FIPS 140-3 Level 3 security standard for cryptographic modules.
Bringing security closer to the workload
Many servers use network-connected security modules or software-based key management, according to the announcement. The proposed design would bring protected key storage and cryptographic operations into the server itself, reducing reliance on remote services.
The architecture would also include an attestation chain, which the companies say would let servers verify that workloads haven't been tampered with. They expect the design to reduce latency and make security easier to scale.
"As AI transforms cybersecurity and quantum technology reshapes cryptography, protecting the keys and credentials at the heart of our digital infrastructure has never been more important," said Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer of Microsoft Azure. He said the group is working toward a fully open-source design that would also speed adoption of post-quantum cryptography.
A first draft is targeted around the summit
The companies are targeting an initial draft of the specification around the OCP Global Summit, which runs October 12 to 15 in San Jose, California, with version 1.0 to follow. They plan to demonstrate the technology at the summit, where AMD (AMD) also showed its Helion AI rack this week.
As of 1:09 p.m. ET, Marvell was down 0.3% at $265.18, Microsoft was up 0.8% at $545.60, and Oracle was up 3.5% at $142.21.
