Enterprise Guide To HSM-as-a-Service

Today, most organizations utilize Hardware Security Modules, or HSMs, within their security infrastructure. Whether it be for compliance standards, general security, or any other reason, most companies will have one or several HSMs for securing encryption keys. Configuring an HSM can be a complicated task, but the truly difficult part of using HSMs is the management of those devices.

Managing an HSM includes ensuring your HSM meets the policies of your organization, that it is compliant with any standards that your industry may abide by, and that only those who should be able to access and create encryption keys can create and access those keys.

Understanding HSMaaS?

HSM-as-a-Service or HSMaaS, is different than just having an HSM in your organization itself. With an HSM in your organization, you normally oversee every aspect of it. Monitoring, configuration, and updating the HSM would all fall into your company’s hands. Though you would have complete control over your keys, managing everything gets complicated. Configuration of an HSM is a long process that can lead to many different issues along the way.

During configuration, you will likely need multiple team members as there are several different roles within the HSM, and it is recommended that you have each role be a different team member. Additionally, when dealing with quorums of those roles, you will need even more team members. When monitoring and upgrading HSMs, your organization will need to continuously monitor the HSM, taking up time and employee manpower, and you will need to stay up to date on the latest releases of software and firmware of the HSM.?

When utilizing an HSMaaS, all the steps of the process are made infinitely easier. Configuration of the HSM is done by the organization offering the HSMaaS. The HSMaaS provider will take care of any daily monitoring of the HSM as well, clearing up manpower from your organization. Usually, if there are specific policies or standards your HSM needs to adhere to, they will also ensure your partition and the HSM meet those standards and policies.

Additionally, any firmware and software updates will be taken care of by the HSMaaS provider. One important point to note about HSMaaS is that the HSMs tend to be shared by other organizations working with the HSMaaS provider. What this means is that your keys will not be the only keys on the HSM. Luckily, HSMaaS providers have already found a secure method of doing this.

Although your keys are on the same HSM as other companies, you cannot access their keys, and they cannot access yours. They are split into different sections of the HSM that are inaccessible to anyone other than those allowed access to it. In this way, you have access and control over your keys, and no one outside of your organization can access them.

To learn more about HSMaaS, visit Encryption Consulting