Virtual Machine Isolation for Secure Application Execution
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current cyber-security infrastructure is insecure due to a mismatch between user interactions and system design, and a lack of appropriate isolation of code and data from trusted and untrusted sources, leading to vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cyber-criminals, resulting in economic losses and compromised security.
Innovation Solution
Implementing dynamic operating system micro-virtualization to execute applications and code in isolated manners using multiple independent virtual machines, with a trusted virtual machine (VM0) for secure operations and untrusted code virtual machines (UCVMs) for handling potentially malicious code, ensuring secure execution and isolation of resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple independent virtual machines are used to isolate untrusted code, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the computing environment into multiple independent virtual machines, each with isolated memory spaces and execution contexts. Untrusted code is executed in separate UCVM instances that cannot access or interfere with the trusted host OS or other applications, thereby improving security through structural division.
Solution Approach 2:
A hypervisor layer is introduced as an intermediary between the physical hardware and the virtual machines. This mediator manages resource allocation, enforces isolation policies, and controls communication between VMs, reducing the complexity burden by centralizing management functions rather than implementing complex isolation logic within each application layer.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If untrusted code is executed in isolated virtual machines, then harmful factors are contained, but management overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automatic lifecycle management of UCVM instances. When untrusted code execution completes or is detected as malicious, the entire UCVM instance is automatically discarded and destroyed, eliminating the need for complex cleanup procedures. Resources are recovered through automated termination rather than manual management, reducing operational overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The hypervisor implements self-managing capabilities for VM lifecycle operations, including automatic creation, monitoring, and termination of UCVM instances based on execution policies. This self-service approach reduces management overhead by eliminating the need for external intervention in routine VM management tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
Approaches for launching an application within a virtual machine. In response to receiving a request to launch an application, a device instantiates, without human intervention and based on a policy, a virtual machine in which the application is to be launched. The policy determines which resources of a device, such as a mobile device or computer system, are accessible to the virtual machine. The policy may, but need not, determine whether the virtual machine has access to a type of resource which obligates the user of the device to make a monetary payment for the user of the resource.