In order to convince enterprise customers of its cloud computing credentials, Google Inc. has provided a series of reports on the enhanced security features it employs to safeguard its hosted offerings.

Earlier this month for example, Google produced a detailed white paper revealing how it protects its data center facilities with custom-designed security chips within every server, security cameras, laser intrusion systems, biometric identification and many other obstacles designed to prevent intruders.

In the same vein, Google this week offered a closer look at some of the measures it takes to harden the security of its open-source KVM hypervisor, which runs at the core of its Compute and Container Engine services. A KVM hypervisor is the hardware virtualization layer in a so-called Kernel-based Virtual Machine.

Andy Honig, a technical lead manager, and Nelly Porter, a senior product manager, co-authored a blog post that highlights no less than seven “high-level security controls” Google employs to protect its KVMs, including code provenance measures for ensuring the integrity of code, processes for reducing the attack surface within the hypervisor, regular security updates and a systematic process for finding and patching vulnerabilities.

Another layer of protection comes from the various fuzzing tools Google has built, which are designed to look for vulnerabilities in KVM each time it’s updated. Google claims its security measures for KVM have been very effective. Honig and Porter wrote that the company has found and fixed nine KVM vulnerabilities in the last three years, while the wider open-source community didn’t find any over the same time frame.

Photo Credit: robertsilva959 Flickr via Compfight cc