Enterprise Key Management
Enterprise Key Management (EKM) is a vital IT solution that ensures the secure handling of cryptographic keys across an organization’s digital infrastructure. This robust solution helps businesses protect sensitive information, streamline operations, and maintain high levels of security and efficiency in an increasingly complex digital landscape.
Challenge
In today’s digital transformation era, the banking and financial sector increasingly adopts cloud technology for data processing and storage. These cloud-based solutions help them grow their business, foster innovation, and deliver quick customer service.
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However, as cloud usage expands, so do the potential attack surfaces, creating new vulnerabilities. Intruders can target cloud platforms, posing threats to business continuity and leading to potential data loss, breaches, and reputational damage. This underscores the ongoing need for robust cloud data security controls in the banking and financial sectors.
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Effective cloud data security can be achieved through various methods that allow users to fully or partially control their sensitive data, whether it is at rest or in transit.
Solution
Double Key Encryption
Protects sensitive data by securing encryption keys in both the HSM and Azure cloud. Without access to both keys, the data remains securely encrypted.
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Multi-Cloud Key Management
A bring-your-own-key (BYOK) strategy that allows secure orchestration of services and data flows across multiple clouds and countries, including local data centers.
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General Purpose Hardware Security Modules
Facilitates key generation, storage, and exchange. Meets various performance levels and physical security requirements while ensuring compliance with regulatory mandates.
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BYOK and HYOK
Choose a key management solution by either hosting encryption keys on the cloud provider’s platform or retaining control of customer-managed encryption keys.
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Tokenization
Replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive tokens, enabling secure business operations without exposing sensitive information.
Benefit
Enhanced Security
HSMs provide a highly secure environment for generating, storing, and managing cryptographic keys, protecting them from unauthorized access and tampering.
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Regulatory Compliance
They help organizations meet stringent security standards and regulatory requirements, such as FIPS 140-2 and Common Criteria.
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Streamlined Key Management
HSMs automate the lifecycle management of cryptographic keys, ensuring efficient and secure key generation, rotation, and destruction.
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Robust Cryptographic Operations
They perform critical cryptographic tasks like encryption, decryption, and digital signing with high reliability and performance.
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Resilience Against Insider Threats
By securing keys in a tamper-resistant environment, HSMs mitigate risks from internal threats.
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Secure Remote Access
HSMs enable secure remote access to cryptographic keys, ensuring that sensitive operations can be performed safely even from remote locations.
HSM Key Management
Challenge
Organizations today encounter numerous challenges related to security and business continuity. Continuous availability, data protection, and regulatory compliance are essential for 24/7 business applications and services. However, evolving internal and external threats must be addressed when designing a robust architecture that integrates high availability (HA) and strong security measures.
Critical Assets Enterprises Must Safeguard:
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Payment cardholder data
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Electronic health records
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Personal identifiable information
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Intellectual property
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Confidential business records
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Hosted client data
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Defense and classified information
Solution
Highest Level of Security
Tamper-responsive and capable of countering side-channel attacks, featuring FIPS 140-2 Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 (physical) compliant architecture, certificate-based authentication, and a built-in CA.
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Embedded HSMs
vESKM integrates with HSM to protect keys at rest. ​
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Key Control and Management
ESKM offers a unified interface for auditing controls with digitally signed logs and key lifecycle activities, reducing audit costs and enhancing visibility.
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Easy Deployment and Simple Licensing
ESKM can be easily installed and configured as a hardware or virtual appliance. Enjoy transparent client licensing with no hidden costs related to key volume or scalability.
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Robust Scalability and High Availability
Supports geographically separate clusters across data centers, accommodating thousands of clients and millions of keys with failover and highly redundant hardware.
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Active-active cluster configuration and automated key replication across thousands of nodes (ESKMs) per cluster.
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Automatic key replication, hands-off administration, automated backups, and audit logging.
Benefit
Enhanced Security
ESKM provides a highly secure environment for managing cryptographic keys, ensuring that sensitive data is protected from unauthorized access and breaches.
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Proving Compliance
Meet audit and compliance requirements with controls for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, EU data privacy laws, and other regional privacy mandates. Streamlined key management processes and reduced audit costs contribute to overall cost savings for the organization.
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Centralized Management
ESKM allows for centralized control over all cryptographic keys, simplifying the management process and reducing the risk of human error.
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Streamlining Data and Processes
Facilitates unified enterprise key management with reliable policy controls, centralized administration, and audit trails, reducing operational costs and aiding in control attestation.
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Business Continuity
ESKM solutions can scale to support thousands of clients and millions of keys, making them suitable for businesses of all sizes. Features like automated key rotation, backup, and failover capabilities ensure that keys are always available and up-to-date, supporting uninterrupted business operations.