Microsoft unveils open-source Tessera HSM initiative

Microsoft has announced Project Tessera, an open-source evolution of Azure Integrated Hardware Security Module (HSM), at the Open Compute Project Global Summit.

• Microsoft is collaborating with Marvell, Oracle, and the Open Compute Project to make the Tessera Integrated HSM architecture, specifications, protocols, drivers, software, firmware, and reproducible build environments open source.
• The company says the project will progress toward a fully open-source silicon implementation and that Microsoft and Marvell demonstrated HSM partition cloning and resiliency rings between a Tessera Integrated HSM and a Marvell LiquidSecurity 2 HSM; the repository is available at GitHub.
• Microsoft also says the initiative will extend into confidential computing with a minimal unikernel-based firmware stack, leveraging AMD SEV-SNP and OpenVMM.