In this interview, Anna Hermansen, Research and Ecosystem Manager of LF Research at the Linux Foundation, shares the findings of a new use-case study sponsored by the Confidential Computing Consortium titled “The Case for Confidential Computing”. She discusses the importance of confidential computing in protecting sensitive data across industries, particularly healthcare and AI.

“This research provides an avenue for organizations to understand what’s the next step for them and what they need to protect their data, as every organization is either quickly moving or is already quite entrenched in digitalization,” says Hermansen.

Hermansen emphasizes the need for secure data sharing and collaboration, highlighting the potential of confidential computing to deliver federated learning solutions and protect data in use. Hermansen explains the use cases and benefits of confidential computing, while highlighting its significance and advantages in today’s data-driven society.

Highlights of the discussion:

Confidential computing for data protection in various industries

• Hermansen defines confidential computing as a secure processing environment for protected code and data.
• Confidential computing consortium aims to accelerate adoption of secure data tech.
• She explains reasons for adopting confidential computing, including adoption of public cloud and collaboration.

Confidential computing use cases in healthcare, finance, and marketing

• Hermansen highlights the importance of confidential computing in protecting data, particularly in industries such as marketing and financial services.
• She emphasizes the need for clean rooms in these industries to enable secure data analysis and connection between different parties.
• She underlines the fact that healthcare data is too sensitive for sharing, so confidential computing can deliver federated learning solutions.
• Hermansen adds that research reports help create future strategies for companies, serving as a roadmap for adoption.

Confidential computing for data protection in various industries

• Hermansen highlights the importance of confidential computing in protecting data in use, particularly in mobile, vehicle, and edge environments.
• Confidential computing has the potential to become a standard approach for securing data in use, democratizing computing, and unlocking savings for users.
• She adds that the report provides solutions for public cloud providers to respond to regulatory issues and share data in a compliant manner.
• She also discusses the relevance of confidential computing in AI development due to data privacy concerns.

Guest: Anna Hermansen (LinkedIn)
Organization: LF Research (Twitter)