Microsoft Azure Diary: Azure Confidential Computing Encrypts Data In Use

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s very own cloud computing platform used by thousands of enterprises around the world.

It’s a public cloud service, which means data and computing power is handled off site in Microsoft’s data centres, which are situated in 26 regions across the globe.

Customers use Azure for a plethora of tools, including computing, analytics, storage and networking. Azure is also investing heavily into providing a platform for the Internet of Things.

Here is all the latest news on Microsoft’s cloud platform

Latest News

Septemeber 2017: Azure encrypts data in use with Confidential Computing

Microsoft has moved to make its Azure platform more secure with the launch of ‘Azure Confidential Computing’.

The company says it has been working on the features for four years, as part of its annual $1 billion spend on cybersecurity, and is the first public cloud to offer such protection.

Azure will no offer encryption of data while it is inue, protecting against malicious insiders, hackers andmalware and unauthorised third parties.

“Put simply, confidential computing offers a protection that to date has been missing from public clouds, encryption of data while in use,” said Azure CTO Mark Russinovich. “This means that data can be processed in the cloud with the assurance that it is always under customer control.

“Despite advanced cybersecurity controls and mitigations, some customers are reluctant to move their most sensitive data to the cloud for fear of attacks against their data when it is in-use. With confidential computing, they can move the data to Azure knowing that it is safe not only at rest, but also in use.”

Azure Confidential Computing is now available to early access customers.

August 2017: Microsoft Brings The Power Of Virtual Machines To UK Data Centres

Microsoft has given UK-based Azure customers the power to work with huge amounts of data and easily run graphics intensive workloads with the release of three new virtual machines in its London, Durham and Cardiff data centres.

The VMs are designed to work with multiple demanding applications and on a range of complex tasks, such as computational fluid dynamics, weather forecasting simulations and even DNA sequencing.

The services will enable businesses to unleash the potential of big data and further strengthens Microsoft’s cloud offering in the UK.

November 2016: Microsoft’s Project Bletchely brings Blockchain  to Azure Marketplace

Microsoft has pushed its work on blockchain infrastructure for Azure that forms its  Project Bletchely into the Azure Marketplace.

The Bletchely v1 infrastructural substrate that enables the deployment of  open, modular blockchain fabric to Azure, can now be procured on Microsoft’s cloud app store.

This  means users can deploy Bletchely v1 as easily as they would other Azure apps, potentially strengthening the potential for blockchain technology to be used in more businesses.

September 2016: Azure at Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft has been very busy indeed at its Ignite conference in Atlanta, revealing new Azure partnerships with car manufacturer Nissan and Adobe, which will move some of its own cloud services onto Microsoft’s cloud infrastrucutre.

New management tools for Azure have also been made available to customers as has the second technical preview of Azure Stack – which is due to be released in the middle of next year.

HPE, one of Microsoft’s partners, shared some details about its Azure Stack appliance too.

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