How do you manage encryption keys and certificates in your organization?
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Encryption key and certificate management is the process of creating, storing, distributing, rotating, revoking, and auditing encryption keys and certificates. It is crucial for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data and systems. Poor encryption key and certificate management can lead to data breaches, compliance violations, operational disruptions, and reputational damage. For example, if you lose or expose your encryption keys, you may not be able to access or recover your data, or you may compromise your data to malicious actors. If you use expired or invalid certificates, you may face browser warnings, network errors, or failed transactions.
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Security and privacy on the internet is underpinned by encryption. Without it, no one would trust the internet enough to watch videos, work, shop, find their significant other and collaborate on projects. Certificate management is what allows us to trust that encryption. Without that trusted authority, spoofed certificates could be used which means your data could be transiting in the clear and leveraged by attackers.
The first step in encryption key and certificate management is to create and store them securely. You should follow the principle of least privilege, which means that only authorized entities should have access to your encryption keys and certificates. You should also use strong encryption algorithms and key lengths, and avoid hard-coding or reusing keys. You can use a key management system (KMS) or a hardware security module (HSM) to generate, store, and manage your encryption keys and certificates. A KMS or an HSM can provide a centralized and secure platform for key and certificate lifecycle management, as well as encryption and decryption services.
The next step in encryption key and certificate management is to distribute and rotate them appropriately. You should ensure that your encryption keys and certificates are transmitted and received securely, using encryption protocols such as SSL/TLS or SSH. You should also implement a key rotation policy, which means that you should replace your encryption keys and certificates periodically or after certain events, such as a key compromise, a personnel change, or a system upgrade. Key rotation can help you reduce the risk of key exposure, maintain the security of your data, and comply with regulatory requirements.
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Ensure that when selecting encryption protocols to secure the transmission of keys and certificates, deprecated protocols are not utilized. Deprecated protocols will not withstand an attacker attempting to decrypt the data. Examples of deprecated protocols include TLS 1.0,1.1, and SSL 3.0.
The final step in encryption key and certificate management is to revoke and audit them regularly. You should revoke your encryption keys and certificates when they are no longer needed, when they are compromised, or when they expire. Revoking them can prevent unauthorized access, data leakage, or system malfunction. You should also audit your encryption keys and certificates frequently, using tools such as key management dashboards, certificate scanners, or log analyzers. Auditing them can help you monitor their usage, status, and validity, as well as identify and resolve any issues or anomalies.
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With encryption, trust is paramount. You always have to use state-of-the-art protocols for both encryption-at-rest and encryption-in-transit. For encryption-in-transit, use TLS 1.2 or above. Earlier versions of TLS as well as SSL would not lead to a sufficient level of assurance. Something to keep in mind is that you can leverage a Content Delivery Network which would manage TLS encryption for you as well as DDoS protection, among other security benefits. For encryption-at-rest, the future-proof gold standard would be AES-256. This is the encryption protocol used by most Public Cloud Providers which means you would have strong encryption by default. Review the encryption algorithms used at your company to see if they're secure!
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“Quantum me that”. This is one of the more tricky and downright expensive topics in cyber security. You need to garner leadership support and budget support across the lines of business you will be touching. International, state, and federal laws are your friends when positioning this within the business. It’s important to quantify the risk and outline to senior leaders why compensating controls and tools only go so far. Also to co wider is the realm of quantum decryption which I have mentioned in past press which will drive this topic further towards priorities in the coming years.
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