Hardware security module (HSM) is a solution?
HSM stands for Hardware Security Module, and is an incredibly secure physical device specifically designed for storing crypto keys which are integral part of crypto processing and secure communication.
A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys for strong authentication and provides crypto-processing. Due to the critical role they play in securing applications and infrastructure, HSMs and/or the cryptographic modules are typically certified to internationally recognized standards such as Common Criteria or FIPS 140
A hardware security module can be employed in any application that uses digital keys. Typically the keys must be of high-value – meaning there would be a significant, negative impact to the owner of the key if it were compromised.
Wikipedia talk about the functions of an HSM as:
- On-board secure cryptographic key generation
- On-board secure cryptographic key storage
- Key management
- Use of cryptographic and sensitive data material, for example, performing encryption
- Off- loading application servers for complete asymmetric and symmetric cryptography.
Why HSM is needed?
There are several reasons but the main one is security, and security on all levels. Hardware Security Module is a must for Banking, Financial, and Manufacturing industry especially to those in industries handling critical information and huge amount of data.
In order to achieve high level of security through Encryption Service and to achieve high level data processing capacity without compromising the security with speed, what is recommended is HSM.
HSM supports multiple solutions wherever achieving the security is a priority like banking transactions, payments, digital signing, Aadhaar based services.
JISA’s Network Appliance HSM:
One specific security standards is FIPS 140 (Federal Information Processing Standards) which certifies the HSM to ensure data security due to the critical role they play in securing data.
JISA launches Network Appliance HSM powered by LiquidSecurity (Cavium) ,HSM family provides a FIPS 140-2 level 3 certified solution with elastic and centralized key management and key operation functionality.
Jisa’s HSM comes with :
- 32 partitioned HSMs in a single physical HSM,
- 100,000 key store independent of key size,
- 35,000 2048b RSA ops/sec and chaining of up to 20 Appliances,
- CN35XX family which provides a solution that addresses requirements from few hundred RSA ops/sec or few key stores to 700K RSA ops/sec or 1M key store and everything in-between.
This product family, available as a network HSM appliance, offers a no compromise cost efficient solution that addresses the stringent security requirements of SaaS applications, ecommerce payment systems and Enterprise, Banking and Government security applications especially as they migrate to the Public or Private cloud.
Major applications for this product family include Key Management as-a-Service, Database as-a-Service, Crypto as-a-service, Secure DNS, SaaS Applications and Virtual Private Clouds in the Public Cloud.
