HSM as a service: choosing protection and a delivery model
Protected hardware is one part of the solution. Ownership, administration, recovery and integration need to be equally clear.
What an HSM adds
A Hardware Security Module is a specialised hardware environment for cryptographic keys and operations. It can be used, for example, for PKI, digital signing and protection within a key management solution.
Hardware protection needs to be combined with appropriate permissions, administration and integration. An HSM does not replace application security or the organisation's risk assessment. The model, configuration and use determine which protection is relevant.
Three ways to access HSM
A private partition as a service provides your own logical partition within shared HSM hardware. A dedicated HSM reserves physical equipment for one customer. A third option is for the customer to own an HSM located in the provider's data centre.
Complior offers these delivery models using Thales HSMs in Swedish data centres. A private partition and a dedicated HSM as a service provide access to hardware protection without the customer having to purchase the equipment provided. Responsibilities and scope differ between the options.
The questions that determine your choice
- Which applications and cryptographic operations need to be connected?
- Do you need a logical partition or reserved physical equipment?
- Who activates the service, administers permissions and manages keys?
- What capacity, redundancy and recovery capability are required?
- How are maintenance, incidents and a future change of provider handled?
Plan recovery from the outset
Availability needs to be tested across the whole chain: application, connection, key service and hardware. Document how backup and recovery are carried out and which people or permissions are required.
Complior's private partition service is described as synchronising with a partition in a geographically separate Swedish data centre. For a dedicated HSM, backup and cluster arrangements are designed to meet requirements. The model, support, service level and operational responsibilities must be specified in the agreed service.