CCSI Officer course · Module 06 of 10
Key management and attestation-bound secret release
Designing key hierarchies where secrets reach a workload only after attestation, writing KMS policies bound to measurements, and governing those policies with separation of duties.
Learning objectives
- Explain envelope encryption and where the attestation check belongs
- Write an AWS KMS key policy statement that requires an attested Nitro Enclave
- Design separation of duties between key custodians, release managers and operators
- Plan rotation of reference values and emergency revocation
Lessons
Lesson 6.1 · 14 min
The attested key release pattern
Envelope encryption plus attestation: the TEE proves itself, then receives a data key wrapped to its own ephemeral public key.
Lesson 6.2 · 12 min
Policies across AWS, Google Cloud and Azure
The same control expressed in three clouds' policy languages.
Lesson 6.3 · 13 min
Custody, separation of duties and rotation
Who may change a release policy, how reference values roll forward, and how to revoke in an emergency.
Check your understanding
Module 6 quiz
5 questions · pass mark 80%
1.Why must key release be conditional on attestation?
2.When a Nitro Enclave calls KMS Decrypt with a Recipient parameter, where is the result returned?
3.A key policy has an attestation-conditioned Allow, plus an IAM policy granting the same role kms:Decrypt without conditions. What is the effect?
4.Which practice is correct for secrets in a confidential workload?
5.During a rollout, how should reference values be handled?
Glossary
- Envelope encryption
- Encrypting data with a data key, and encrypting that data key with a key-encryption key held in a KMS or HSM.
- Secret release
- Delivering a key or secret to a workload only after it satisfies a policy, here an attestation policy.
- Separation of duties
- Splitting critical tasks so no single person can complete a sensitive action alone.
- Reference value rollout window
- A bounded period when both old and new approved measurements are accepted.