Method and system for preventing data leakage from trusted network to untrusted network

1. A computer-implemented method for establishing a secure network comprising a plurality of host computers, the method comprising:

receiving, by a respective host computer from a server computer, at least one symmetric encryption key, which facilitates secure communications among the plurality of host computers;

wherein each host computer comprises at least a smart network interface card;

wherein a central processing unit (CPU) of each host computer supports remote attestation; and

wherein receiving the symmetric encryption key from the server computer comprises:

establishing a trusted channel between a protected region within the CPU of the respective host computer and the server computer via a remote attestation operation;

receiving, at the CPU of the respective host computer, the symmetric encryption key from the server computer over the trusted channel; and

forwarding the symmetric encryption key to the smart network interface card of the respective host computer over a secure channel established between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the smart network interface card of the respective host computer is configured to encrypt a packet to be sent to a second host computer using the symmetric encryption key before transmitting the packet to the second host computer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein a corresponding smart network interface card of the second host computer is configured to decrypt the encrypted packet.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the CPU of each host computer implements at least in part an embedded trusted execution environment (TEE) technology, and wherein the TEE technology includes at least one of: Intel® Software Guard Extension (SGX) technology, Arm® TrustZone technology, and AMD® Secure Technology.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the respective host computer is configured to receive a set of symmetric encryption keys, wherein each individual symmetric encryption key is used for secure communications between the respective host computer and a different host computer selected from the plurality of host computers.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising receiving, from the server computer, a key-host mapping table that maps the received symmetric encryption keys to other host computers within the plurality of host computers.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the smart network interface card comprises a processor embedded with a trusted firmware module, and wherein the trusted firmware module facilitates establishing the secure communication channel between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein establishing the secure communication channel between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card involves a public/private key pair associated with the trusted firmware module.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of host computers forms a network group, wherein the plurality of host computers comprises a gateway host computer, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the gateway host computer from a global server computer, at least one inter-group encryption key, which facilitates secure communications among the plurality of network groups.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , a smart network interface card associated with the gateway host computer comprises an inter-group port for transmitting and receiving inter-group packets, and wherein the global server computer is configured to send the inter-group encryption key to the smart network interface card associated with the gateway host computer.

11. A secure network, comprising:

a server computer; and

a plurality of host computers;

wherein the server computer is configured to distribute at least one symmetric encryption key among the plurality of host computers to enable the plurality of host computers to communicate securely with each other using the distributed symmetric encryption key;

wherein each host computer comprises at least a smart network interface card;

wherein a central processing unit (CPU) of each host computer supports remote attestation; and

wherein while distributing the symmetric encryption key among the plurality of host computers, the server computer is configured to:

perform a remote attestation operation to establish a trusted channel between the server computer and a protected region within the CPU of a respective host computer; and

transmit, over the trusted channel, the symmetric encryption key to the CPU of the respective host computer, which in turn forwards the symmetric encryption key to the smart network interface card of the respective host computer over a secure channel established between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card.

12. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein the smart network interface card of the respective host computer is configured to encrypt a packet to be sent to a second host computer using the symmetric encryption key before transmitting the packet to the second host computer.

13. The secure network of claim 12 , wherein a corresponding smart network interface card of the second host computer is configured to decrypt the encrypted packet.

14. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein the CPU of each host computer implements at least in part an embedded trusted execution environment (TEE) technology, and wherein the TEE technology includes at least one of: Intel® Software Guard Extension (SGX) technology, Arm® TrustZone technology, and AMD® Secure Technology.

15. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein the server computer is configured to distribute a set of symmetric encryption keys, wherein each individual symmetric encryption key is used for secure communications between a particular pair of host computers selected from the plurality of host computers.

16. The secure network of claim 15 , wherein the server computer is further configured to distribute, among the plurality of host computers, a key-host mapping table.

17. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein the smart network interface card comprises a processor embedded with a trusted firmware module, and wherein the trusted firmware module facilitates establishing the secure communication channel between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card.

18. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein establishing the secure communication channel between the protected region within the CPU and the smart network interface card involves a public/private key pair associated with the trusted firmware module.

19. The secure network of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of host computers forms a network group, wherein the secure network further comprises a global server computer and a plurality of network groups, and wherein the global server computer is configured to distribute at least one inter-group encryption key among a plurality of network groups to enable the plurality of network groups to communicate securely with each other using the inter-group encryption key.

20. The secure network of claim 19 , wherein a respective network group comprises a gateway host computer, wherein a smart network interface card associated with the gateway host computer comprises an inter-group port for transmitting and receiving inter-group packets, and wherein the global server computer is configured to send the inter-group encryption key to the smart network interface card associated with the gateway host computer.