Microsoft Corp. on Thursday unveiled a new set of services called Azure Confidential Computing that’s designed to bolster the security of its public cloud service.

Separately, the company is also planning to lift the lid on a preview of Project Honolulu, which is a graphical management tool intended to be used with the forthcoming Windows Server 1709 release.

Azure Confidential Computing, available through Microsoft’s early access program, aims to secure cloud data while it’s being used by applications running on Azure. Microsoft says the encryption service is designed to ward off potential threats while data is being crunched in its server and sent to the applications.

“While many breaches are the result of poorly configured access control, most can be traced to data that is accessed while in use, either through administrative accounts or by leveraging compromised keys to access encrypted data,” Mark Russinovich, Azure’s chief technology officer, said in a blog post. “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.”

Azure Confidential Computing works by shifting Azure code and data into a Trusted Execution Environment within a Hyper-V instance that’s separated from server access, where the code is authorized to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. The code and data is then processed in an “enclave” environment that’s secure from outside access.

As for Project Honolulu, this refers to new graphical user interface tools designed to bridge the gap between the PowerShell command line interface and Microsoft Management Console, said Samuel Li, principal program manager lead of Windows Server at Microsoft.

“Whether it’s for scenarios where GUI has an inherent advantage like data visualization or comparison, or for ad hoc configuration or troubleshooting, we will evolve and expand core GUI tools that are complementary to investments in PowerShell and larger scale management solutions like OMS [Operations Management Suite],” Li wrote in a separate post.

From the screenshots Microsoft posted (below), Project Honolulu’s dashboard looks fairly similar to Windows 10 desktop operating system’s settings and system monitoring screens. The GUI presents vital stats like processor and memory usage, disk performance and networking speeds. It also offers quick access to several management tools encompassing certificates, firewall, virtual machines and more.

Project Honolulu also offers tools for users to manage hyperconverged clusters within the company’s Hyper-V virtualization and Storage Spaces Direct storage pooling technologies, Li said. “Together in one modern, simple, and integrated experience, [you can] provision and manage VMs [Virtual Machines] and volumes, see drives, servers, and their health status across the cluster,” he wrote.

Microsoft said a preview of Project Honolulu will be made available during the Microsoft Ignite conference, which takes place from Sept. 25 -29 in Orlando, Florida.

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