# Azure Confidential Computing **Entity class:** Hardware-isolated cloud-computing capability **Architecture:** [[wiki/Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software|Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software]] ## Definition **Azure Confidential Computing** protects data while it is being processed by running code inside hardware-based, attested trusted execution environments. ## Modern Defense and Cybersecurity Role Defense and intelligence partnerships often require organizations to compute jointly without making raw sensitive data visible to every infrastructure operator or participant. Confidential computing reduces that trust surface and complements encryption at rest and in transit. ## Chronological Proximity Microsoft helped found the Confidential Computing Consortium in 2019 as trusted execution environments became a practical cloud-security layer. ## Relational Proximity Azure supplies confidential virtual machines, containers, attestation, key services, and confidential ledgers; these capabilities strengthen the compute layer beneath analytics and AI workloads. ## Collection Routes [[collections/The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace|The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace]] · [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Primary documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/confidential-computing/overview)