Patent ID: 8909928

Claim:
A method of securing virtual machines in a multi-tenant data center including a plurality of server computers and persistent data stores, comprising: configuring a server computer with an attestation module; installing a software stack on the server computer; measuring, with the attestation module, a static property of the software stack and storing the measurement in the attestation module; receiving a request to start a virtual machine using the software stack on the server computer; in response to receiving the request to start the virtual machine, transmitting the measurement stored in the attestation module to an external entity and, in response to a verification that the measurement matches an expected value at the external entity, receiving from the external entity a key for running the virtual machine using the software stack; running the virtual machine on top of the software stack using the key; receiving a request to execute a management operation on the virtual machine; and creating an audit trail by sending the management operation to the external entity.