Intel Corp. today announced a new service code-named “Project Amber” designed to provide organizations with remote verification of trustworthiness in cloud, edge and on-premises environments.

With a need for organizations to meet growing security needs, the service focuses on one of the most critical security elements for any organization: trust. Project Amber operates as an independent trust authority in the form of an innovative service-based security implementation code.

Intel argues that businesses operating in and depending on the cloud to support remote workforces require technology solutions that secure data not only in memory and in transit but also in use – protecting valuable assets and minimizing attack surfaces. Project Amber provides organizations with remote verification of the trustworthiness of compute assets in cloud, edge and on-premises environments. The service operates independently of the infrastructure provider hosting the confidential compute workloads.

Project Amber is Intel’s first step in creating a new multicloud, multi-trusted execution environment or TEE service for third-party attestation. The project is cloud-agnostic and will support confidential computing workloads in the public cloud, private/hybrid cloud and edge. Interposing a third party to provide attestation, Intel contends, helps provide objectivity and independence to enhance confidential computing assurance to users.

The initial release of Project Amber supports confidential compute workloads deployed as bare-metal containers, virtual machines and containers running in virtual machines using Intel TEEs. The initial release will support Intel TEEs, with plans to extend coverage to platforms, devices and other TEEs in the future.

Intel said it’s also working with independent software vendors to enable trust services that include Project Amber. New software tools, such as published application programming interfaces, are being designed to enable ISVs to incorporate Project Amber to augment software and services that complement Intel’s platforms and technologies.

“As organizations continue to capitalize on the value of the cloud, security has never been more top of mind,” Greg Lavender, chief technology officer, senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Advanced Technology Group at Intel, said in a statement. “Trust goes hand-in-hand with security and it is what our customers expect and require when delivering on Intel technology.”

Lavender added that with the introduction of Project Amber, “Intel is taking confidential computing to the next level in our commitment to a zero-trust approach to attestation and the verification of compute assets at the network, edge and in the cloud.”

Intel plans to launch a customer pilot of Project Amber in the second half of 2022, followed by general availability in the first half of 2023.

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