Confidential Computing

In an era where data breaches and cyber threats dominate headlines across Europe, organizations in Belgium and worldwide are seeking innovative solutions to protect their most sensitive information. Confidential computing has emerged as a game-changing technology that addresses fundamental security challenges in cloud computing, data processing, and digital transformation initiatives. As a leading IT and cybersecurity company based in Belgium, we understand the critical importance of protecting data not just at rest and in transit, but also during processing—the final frontier of data security.
The Future of Data Security in Belgium and Beyond

The Future of Data Security in Belgium and Beyond

Confidential computing represents a paradigm shift in how we approach data protection. Unlike traditional security measures that focus solely on protecting data when stored or transmitted, confidential computing ensures that data remains encrypted and protected even while it’s being processed. This is achieved through hardware-based trusted execution environments (TEEs), also known as secure enclaves, which create isolated regions within processors where sensitive computations can occur without exposure to the rest of the system.
The technology leverages specialized CPU instructions and architectural features to ensure that even system administrators, cloud providers, or malicious actors with physical access to servers cannot view or tamper with data during computation. This capability is particularly crucial for organizations operating under strict European data protection regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which demands the highest standards of data security and privacy.
Contact Now
legal safeguard

The Three Pillars of Data Security

Traditional cybersecurity frameworks have long focused on two critical aspects of data protection: securing data at rest through encryption of stored files and databases, and protecting data in transit using protocols like TLS/SSL for network communications. However, a significant vulnerability remained—data had to be decrypted during processing, creating a window of exposure that sophisticated attackers could exploit.
Confidential computing completes this security triad by introducing protection for data in use. When applications process information within a trusted execution environment, the data remains encrypted in memory, accessible only to authorized code running inside the secure enclave. This comprehensive approach ensures end-to-end data protection throughout its entire lifecycle, eliminating the traditional attack vectors that cybercriminals have exploited for decades.
For Belgian enterprises handling sensitive customer information, financial transactions, or proprietary business intelligence, this third pillar of security is not just beneficial—it’s becoming essential for maintaining competitive advantage and regulatory compliance in today’s digital economy.
Organizations

Key Benefits for Belgian Organizations

Enhanced Data Privacy and Compliance

For organizations operating in Belgium and across the European Union, confidential computing offers a powerful tool for meeting stringent GDPR requirements. By ensuring that sensitive personal data remains encrypted during processing, companies can demonstrate robust technical measures for data protection, reducing the risk of costly compliance violations and reputational damage from data breaches.

Belgian healthcare providers, financial institutions, and government agencies handling citizen data can leverage confidential computing to process sensitive information while maintaining the highest privacy standards. This technology enables secure data sharing and collaborative analytics without exposing raw data to unauthorized parties.

Secure Cloud Adoption

Many Belgian enterprises remain hesitant about migrating sensitive workloads to public cloud platforms due to concerns about data exposure and loss of control. Confidential computing addresses these concerns by ensuring that even cloud service providers cannot access customer data during processing. This "privacy-preserving cloud" model enables organizations to leverage the scalability and cost benefits of cloud computing without compromising data confidentiality.

Multi-Party Collaboration Without Data Exposure

In today's interconnected business environment, organizations often need to collaborate on projects involving sensitive data. Confidential computing enables secure multi-party computation where multiple organizations can jointly analyze data without revealing their individual datasets to each other. Belgian companies in competitive industries can participate in industry-wide analytics, fraud detection networks, or supply chain optimization initiatives while protecting their proprietary information.

Protection Against Insider Threats

Traditional security models struggle with insider threats from privileged users who have legitimate access to systems. Confidential computing mitigates this risk by ensuring that even administrators with root access cannot view data being processed within secure enclaves. This reduces the attack surface and provides an additional layer of defense against both malicious insiders and compromised credentials.

Technical Architecture

How Confidential Computing Works

The foundation of confidential computing lies in specialized hardware security features built into modern processors. Major chip manufacturers, including Intel with Software Guard Extensions (SGX) and Trust Domain Extensions (TDX), AMD with Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV), and ARM with TrustZone and Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA), have developed sophisticated technologies that enable secure enclaves.
These secure enclaves operate as isolated execution environments with their own encrypted memory regions. When an application needs to process sensitive data, it can be executed within this protected space where the processor automatically encrypts all data in memory. The encryption keys are generated and managed by the hardware itself, remaining inaccessible to software, including the operating system, hypervisor, or even privileged system administrators.
Attestation mechanisms provide cryptographic proof that code is running in a genuine trusted execution environment and hasn’t been tampered with. This allows data owners to verify that their sensitive information will only be processed in secure enclaves before sharing it with cloud service providers or third-party applications.
The architecture also includes secure communication channels that allow data to be transferred into and out of the enclave while maintaining encryption. This ensures that confidential data never appears in plaintext outside the protected environment, even momentarily during processing operations.
Use Cases

Real-World Applications and Use Cases

Financial Services and Banking

Belgian banks and financial institutions handle massive volumes of sensitive transaction data, customer financial records, and proprietary trading algorithms. Confidential computing enables secure fraud detection systems that can analyze transaction patterns in real-time without exposing individual customer data. Financial modeling and risk assessment calculations can be performed on encrypted data, protecting intellectual property while leveraging powerful cloud computing resources.

Healthcare and Medical Research

The healthcare sector generates enormous amounts of sensitive patient data that must be protected under both GDPR and medical confidentiality requirements. Confidential computing allows Belgian hospitals and research institutions to perform advanced analytics on patient records, enable cross-institutional medical studies, and develop AI-powered diagnostic tools while ensuring that patient privacy is maintained at every stage of data processing.

Medical researchers can collaborate on drug discovery and clinical trials by sharing encrypted datasets that can be jointly analyzed without any party accessing the raw data. This accelerates research while respecting patient privacy and competitive interests.

Government and Public Services

Public sector organizations in Belgium handle sensitive citizen data across numerous government services. Confidential computing can secure digital identity systems, enable privacy-preserving e-government services, and protect classified information during processing. Tax authorities can perform complex fraud detection analytics while ensuring taxpayer data remains confidential.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Training sophisticated AI models requires access to large datasets, but data owners are often reluctant to share sensitive information. Confidential computing enables confidential machine learning where models can be trained on encrypted data within secure enclaves. Belgian companies can leverage third-party AI services or contribute data to collaborative AI initiatives without exposing their proprietary or personal data.

Implementation Challenges and Considerations

While confidential computing offers significant security advantages, organizations must understand the implementation challenges. Performance overhead from encryption and secure enclave operations can impact application speed, although hardware improvements are rapidly reducing these penalties. Applications may require modification to take advantage of secure enclaves, and developers need specialized knowledge of confidential computing frameworks.

Memory limitations within secure enclaves can restrict the size of workloads that can be processed, requiring careful application design. Organizations must also carefully evaluate their threat model to determine which workloads truly require confidential computing protection versus traditional security measures.
Belgian companies should partner with experienced cybersecurity consultants who understand both the technical aspects of confidential computing and the specific regulatory requirements of the European market.

The Confidential Computing Consortium and Industry Standards

The Confidential Computing Consortium, a project of the Linux Foundation, brings together industry leaders to develop open-source frameworks, standards, and best practices for confidential computing. This collaborative effort ensures interoperability between different hardware vendors and cloud platforms, making it easier for organizations to adopt confidential computing without vendor lock-in.

Belgian enterprises can benefit from standardized APIs and tools that simplify the development and deployment of confidential computing applications across diverse infrastructure environments.
Future Outlook

Confidential Computing in Belgium's Digital Future

As Belgium continues its digital transformation journey and positions itself as a hub for European technology and innovation, confidential computing will play an increasingly vital role in the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The technology is particularly relevant for Belgium’s thriving fintech sector, its position as home to numerous EU institutions handling sensitive governmental data, and its growing life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.
The convergence of confidential computing with other emerging technologies such as blockchain, federated learning, and quantum-resistant cryptography will create new possibilities for secure data processing and collaboration. Belgian organizations that adopt confidential computing early will gain competitive advantages in security, privacy, and their ability to participate in data-driven innovation initiatives.
Conclusion

Taking the Next Step

Confidential computing represents a fundamental advancement in data security that addresses the critical vulnerability of data exposure during processing. For Belgian organizations navigating the complex landscape of cybersecurity threats and regulatory requirements, this technology offers a path to secure digital transformation, enabling cloud adoption, data collaboration, and advanced analytics while maintaining the highest standards of data protection.
As a Belgium-based IT and cybersecurity company, we recognize that implementing confidential computing requires expertise in both the technology itself and the specific security needs of European enterprises. Organizations should begin by identifying their most sensitive workloads and data processing requirements, evaluating available confidential computing platforms, and developing a roadmap for gradual adoption.
The future of data security lies in comprehensive protection across all three states: data at rest, in transit, and in use. Confidential computing completes this security triad, providing Belgian organizations with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly digital and data-driven economy while maintaining trust, privacy, and compliance in an uncertain threat landscape.