Confidential Containers (CoCo), a Cloud Native Computing Foundation project, runs Kubernetes pods inside confidential virtual machines backed by hardware-based trusted execution environments (TEEs). Unlike ordinary containers, whose isolation depends largely on the host operating system, confidential VMs use hardware protections to encrypt memory and restrict access to the workload while it runs.
This helps protect data in use, not just data at rest or in transit, and can let teams run sensitive workloads on shared infrastructure. Those protections still depend on trusting the guest software and configuring attestation and key release correctly.
Fortanix's technical overview describes plugins connecting CoCo workloads to two services: Confidential Computing Manager (CCM), which verifies the environment, and Data Security Manager (DSM), which releases keys only to environments CCM has verified. The company says CCM can attest the processor and graphics processing unit (GPU) together, a check that depends on configuration.
CoCo moves image pulling and unpacking into the confidential guest. Its Attestation Agent collects hardware evidence, and its Confidential Data Hub obtains secrets after verification.
