Mandiant is now part of Google Cloud. Learn more.

Shielded VMs

Hardened virtual machines on Google Cloud.

View documentation for this product.

Shielded VMs Overview logo

Overview

Shielded VMs are virtual machines (VMs) on Google Cloud hardened by a set of security controls that help defend against rootkits and bootkits. Using Shielded VMs helps protect enterprise workloads from threats like remote attacks, privilege escalation, and malicious insiders. Shielded VMs leverage advanced platform security capabilities such as secure and measured boot, a virtual trusted platform module (vTPM), UEFI firmware, and integrity monitoring.
Quickly protect VMs against advanced threats logo

Quickly protect VMs against advanced threats

In just a few clicks, you can enable Shielded VMs to help protect against threats such as malicious project insiders, malicious guest firmware, and kernel- or user-mode vulnerabilities.

Ensure workloads are trusted and verifiable logo

Ensure workloads are trusted and verifiable

Shielded VMs help protect your virtual machines against rootkits and boot- and kernel-level malware with secure and measured boot capabilities. Using a vTPM, Shielded VMs provide a virtual root-of-trust to verify VM identity and ensure they’re part of your specified project and region.

Help protect secrets against exfiltration and replay logo

Help protect secrets against exfiltration and replay

Using Shielded VMs, secrets generated or protected by a vTPM are sealed to a VM and only revealed once integrity is verified.

Features

Verifiable integrity with secure and measured boot

Secure boot helps prevent malicious code from being loaded early in the boot sequence. Measured boot ensures the integrity of the bootloader and kernel and boot drivers to guard against malicious modifications to the VM.

vTPM exfiltration resistance

Validate your guest VM pre-boot and boot integrity using vTPM technology, which is compatible with Trusted Computing Group TPM 2.0 specifications and is FIPS 140-2 L1 verified. A vTPM generates and securely stores encryption keys or sensitive data on guest operating systems.

Trusted UEFI firmware

Trusted firmware is based on Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) 2.3.1, which replaces legacy BIOS sub-systems and enables UEFI Secure Boot capability.

Tamper-evident attestations

Gain insight into the integrity state of Shielded VMs with tamper-evident attestation claims available in Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring. These integrity measurements help identify changes from the "healthy" baseline of your VM and current runtime state.

Live migration and patching

Keep your virtual machine instances running even when a host system event occurs, such as a software or hardware update.

Define IAM policies and permissions

Set policies and permissions that constrain all new Compute Engine instances to use Shielded VM disk images and have vTPM and integrity monitoring options enabled.

Shield existing VM images

Transform your existing VMs into Shielded VMs that run on Google Cloud, bringing verifiable integrity and exfiltration resistance to your existing images.

Pricing

There is no separate charge for using Shielded VMs.

Take the next step

Start building on Google Cloud with $300 in free credits and 20+ always free products.

Need help getting started?
Work with a trusted partner
Continue browsing

Take the next step

Start your next project, explore interactive tutorials, and manage your account.

Need help getting started?
Work with a trusted partner
Get tips & best practices