In an environment that includes a host computing system that executes virtual machines, and a secure cloud computing channel that communicatively couples the host to a client computing system that is assigned to a particular one of the virtual machines, the particular virtual machine generates a certificate, install the certificate on the itself, and returns a certificate representation to the client. This may occur when the virtual machine is provisioned. During a subsequent connection request from the client to the virtual machine, the virtual machine returns the certificate to the client. The client compares the certificate representation that was returned during provisioning with the certificate returned during the subsequent connection, and if there is a match, then the virtual machine is authenticated to the client. Thus, in this case, the virtual machine authenticates without the client having to generate, install, and manage security for a certificate.