Department of Computer Science: MSc Thesis Presentations

Attestation of Distributed Applications

Author: Ghazal Shenavar
Supervisor: Lachlan Gunn
Advisor: Huy Ngo

Abstract: This thesis addresses the problem of securing distributed applications composed of multiple components. Each component operates with access to infrastructure that enables remote attestation of its integrity. However, verifying individual components in isolation is insufficient to ensure the trustworthiness of the overall application, especially in dynamic and potentially adversarial environments. To this end, we propose a workflow for application-wide attestation, where a client—or any component acting as a challenger—can verify the collective integrity and configuration of the entire application.

We present a protocol that collects, merges, and verifies attestation quotes from all participating components in a distributed system. This enables the detection of misconfigurations (e.g., inconsistent data replicas) and the identification of compromised or unauthorized components. Our solution binds each application instance to a specific set of attested components, ensuring system-wide integrity before sensitive operations are performed. Furthermore, we focus on designing the protocol with minimal performance overhead, making it suitable for real-world deployments where scalability and responsiveness are essential.