Hypervisor and virtual machine protection

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• receive, by the processor, a request Dora hypervisor to run a virtual machine;
• determine, by the processor, whether the virtual machine is authorized to run using a data structure having metadata about properties of the virtual machine;
• determine, by the processor, whether the hypervisor is authorized to run the virtual machine using a digital signature of the data structure;
• receive, by the processor, a decryption key from a key authority when it is determined that the virtual machine is authorized to be run and it is determined that the hypervisor is authorized to run the virtual machine;
• unlock, by the processor, and/or decrypting the virtual machine using the decryption key;
• and
• run, by the processor, the virtual machine.

A system, comprising:

• a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to:
• receive a request for a hypervisor to run a virtual machine;
• determine whether the virtual machine is authorized to run using a data structure having metadata about properties of the virtual machine;
• determine whether the hypervisor is authorized to run the virtual machine using a digital signature of the data structure;
• receive a decryption key from a key authority when it is determined that the virtual machine is authorized to be run and it is determined that the hypervisor is authorized to run the virtual machine;
• unlock and/or decrypting the virtual machine using the decryption key;
• and
• run the virtual machine.