In an innovative stride towards bolstering cloud data storage security, Cohesity, a frontrunner in AI-enhanced data security and management, has announced a pivotal collaboration with tech giant Intel. This partnership aims to integrate Intel’s renowned confidential computing capabilities into the Cohesity Data Cloud, marking a first-of-its-kind initiative in the data management sector. The collaboration, centering around Cohesity’s Fort Knox cyber vault service, promises to significantly uplift secure cloud data storage, offering a robust shield against cyber threats.

In the digital era, data is indisputably a critical asset for enterprises, yet it remains perennially at risk from cybercriminal activities. One of the gaping vulnerabilities in data security has been safeguarding data while it’s in use — typically when being processed in memory. This phase has traditionally left data unshielded and exposed to insider threats, posing a daunting challenge for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across sectors. By leveraging Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX), Cohesity aims to mitigate these risks, ensuring that data remains impervious to unauthorized access during processing. This development is particularly salient for sectors under stringent regulatory scrutiny such as finance, healthcare, and governmental operations, where data integrity is paramount.

The collaboration between Cohesity and Intel seeks to pioneer a novel solution that safeguards encryption keys within a hardware-secured environment, courtesy of Intel SGX’s confidential computing prowess. This approach not only shields data from potential exfiltration attempts but also ensures that privileged accounts cannot view or download data while it’s being processed. Furthermore, the partnership enables Cohesity customers to affirm the legitimacy of their Intel SGX through Intel Trust Authority, assuring that it is up-to-date and runs exclusively the intended Cohesity application before extracting the data encryption key.

Sanjay Poonen, CEO and President of Cohesity, underscored the endeavor’s alignment with Cohesity’s mission to fortify data protection and insights. Poonen highlighted the strategic cooperation with Intel as a testament to Cohesity’s commitment to pioneering innovative security solutions, fostering business resilience among global enterprises. On the other hand, Greg Lavender, Intel Corporation’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, lauded this integration as a progression towards confidential computing in data center technologies, emphasizing the mutual goal of offering a secure computing environment that resonates with customer expectations of trust and integrity.

This partnership is set to take center stage at Intel Vision 2024, where Cohesity will not only showcase its AI-driven data management and cyber resilience solutions but also demonstrate the practical application of confidential computing enabled by Intel SGX. This engagement aims to further elucidate the formidable capabilities of this collaboration in securing cloud environments.

As data security concerns continue to escalate, the collaboration between Cohesity and Intel becomes a beacon of innovation in the cybersecurity landscape. By harnessing the power of confidential computing, this partnership is poised to redefine the paradigms of data protection, offering enterprises a much-needed bulwark against the ever-evolving cyber threats.