Secure, Private & Seamless: Google Rolls Out Confidential Computing For Ads

Technologies such as confidential computing, which leverage Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) for enhanced security are opening up new avenues for businesses to utilise their first-party data in customer outreach and digital ad campaign measurement, according to Google.

In a recent blog post, Google highlighted that this technology provides heightened data security and transparency by isolating sensitive business information during processing, ensuring that no one including Google can access the data being handled.

Last week, Google unveiled confidential matching, a new method for securely connecting first-party data for measurement and audience solutions. Kamal Janardhan, Senior Director of Product Management, Measurement at Google, noted, “This marks only the first use of confidential computing in our Ads products, and we plan to bring this privacy-enhancing technology to more products over time.”

For advertisers, confidential computing offers increased protection for customer information ensuring security by default. Additional technical safeguards include transparency into product code and the ability to verify, through 'attestation', that data is processed according to its intended purpose.

TEEs are widely used across various industries to safeguard sensitive information like passwords and credit card details.

Google Cloud’s confidential computing suite, known as Confidential Space is employed by MonetaGo for secure financial fraud detection. It also enables privacy-preserving data sharing between businesses due to its robust security features.

Google stated, “We’re using this same Confidential Space technology, which has already received rigorous security reviews from third-party auditors, as the technical foundation in Ads for confidential matching.”

Confidential matching is now the default setting for all data connections made through Customer Match, including Google Ads Data Manager. Google highlights that for advertisers with stringent data policies, this feature also provides the option to encrypt data before it even leaves their servers.

In the coming months, Google plans to globally expand encryption support within confidential matching. The tech giant also intends to integrate confidential matching into more of its advertising solutions. For instance, in the near future, first-party data processed with confidential matching will be incorporated into enhanced conversions via the Google tag. This process will run seamlessly in the background, without affecting how conversions are measured or how the Google tag is managed.