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Secure Enclave

Secure Enclave is a term with four distinct definitions, ranging from a general concept of an isolated high-security zone to Apple's dedicated chip section for cryptographic processing, which functions similarly to a TPM.

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About this video

Secure Enclave is a term that carries four distinct meanings, and understanding each one is essential for working accurately in IT and cybersecurity contexts. The most foundational meaning comes from geography, where an enclave describes a territory that is physically surrounded by, yet distinct from, the land of another. Applied to computing, the general definition simply describes any area with a higher level of security than the environment around it, an isolated zone that receives additional protection within a broader system. At a more technical level, Secure Enclave is closely tied to the concept of a Trusted Execution Environment, or TEE. A TEE is a dedicated partition within a chip, such as a CPU, that is set aside specifically for sensitive operations including cryptographic functions and the handling of protected data. This partitioned area operates with greater security guarantees than the rest of the chip, keeping critical processes isolated from the general computing environment. The most widely recognized usage of the term belongs to Apple, whose Secure Enclave is the dedicated section of its proprietary chips responsible for cryptographic processing and core security features. Apple's implementation functions as its equivalent to the Trusted Platform Module, or TPM, performing many of the same roles that a TPM handles on non-Apple hardware. Beyond Apple, a range of other manufacturers and vendors have adopted the phrase Secure Enclave as a marketing term for their own isolated security components, meaning the specific implementation can vary significantly from one product to another while still referencing the same underlying concept of a protected, purpose-built area set apart from the rest of the system.

What you'll learn

What's covered

Secure Enclave

Key terms

Secure Enclave
An isolated, hardware-based execution environment within a processor that protects sensitive data and cryptographic operations from the main operating system.
Trusted Execution Environment
TEE
A isolated, dedicated section of a processor chip set aside for secure and sensitive operations such as cryptographic processing, separate from the general execution environment.
Cryptography
The practice of securing information by transforming it into an unreadable format using mathematical algorithms.
Encryption
The process of converting readable data into an unreadable format using an algorithm and key to prevent unauthorized access.
Biometrics
Authentication methods that use unique physical or behavioral characteristics such as fingerprints or retinal scans.

Topics

Secure Enclave Trusted Execution Environment Cryptography Hardware Security Apple Security Tpm

Transcript

Secure enclave actually has many different definitions. One of them is closely related to TPM.

I look at secure enclave as having four different definitions. Some of these definitions are more prevalent than others. First of all, it just has a general meaning, so it's just something that's thrown out there. And a lot of times it has to deal with these TEEs, and we'll talk about TEEs and what those look like. And then Apple is a type of TEE, and so we'll talk about Apple's meaning to it. And then there's a lot of other companies that have adopted this verbiage, this usage of secure enclave, as well. So you have to understand that there's four different definitions, and we'll go over each one of those.

What "Enclave" Means

Let's first take a look at this meaning of what enclave means. Enclave is not a technical definition. Enclave just means an area that is different than those surrounding it. So this is used in geography. An enclave — here we've got maybe it's two countries or two territories. And we've got a territory A right here, and maybe this is one country. And then we've got territory B over here, which maybe is another country. But then they have this kind of offshoot right here. This is part of country B right here, and that's what was called an enclave. It's set apart, so this is essentially surrounded by a whole another country here.

So that would be an enclave when it comes to secure enclave. And now we're getting a little more technical in this description. What we have here is we have some sort of area and it has one level of security, and we have an enclave. Now this is a secure enclave, so generally speaking this would have a higher level of security than what it's inside of. So this area is extra protected there. That's the general meaning, and all it means is that we have a more secure area in a less secure area.

Trusted Execution Environments

So now let's look at TEEs. A TEE is a trusted execution environment. And so what this essentially is, is that we have some sort of environment that we execute differently than everywhere else, and it's a trusted environment.

So what does that all mean? Well, within chips, when we're doing things like central processing units, they're broken down into different areas, and each of these areas perform different functions. Well, a trusted execution environment sets aside a part of this chip for sensitive information or sensitive executions, or specific maybe cryptographic functions. It's set aside for secure functionality. And so this is a trusted execution environment. So what we have right here is we have a chip, and as part of this chip, a section of this chip, it does this processing of more sensitive information.

Apple's Secure Enclave

Now if you do a Google search of secure enclave, what's going to come up is Apple's meaning of secure enclave, and there's going to be a bunch of information about it. So most prevalent, you can consider secure enclave being associated with Apple, and with Apple it's the way their chips are, to do their processing.

Apple's secure enclave essentially is their chips and how they work, and specifically the section of the chip that does a lot of their cryptographic processing and a lot of their security features. And so it's integrated onto their chips and it will do a lot of those different functions. Essentially what it is, it's their version of the TPM. So they've incorporated the secure enclave to do a lot of the similar functions as the TPM does for other machines.

Other Companies' Usage

So then we get to our final definition. Many definitions of other companies will use this term secure enclave as a marketing tool for different parts of their systems. So sometimes it could be associated with TEEs, sometimes it could be just associated with whatever they really want to associate with that is descriptive of being a secure enclave, a security section that's set apart from everything else.

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