Many people wonder whether using a third-party key management system is required to handle encryption keys internally. No, it is not necessary, however, having features for your company is a fantastic idea. A centralized key management system is more effective than a KMS tailored to a single application.
A centralized key management system has the following advantages:
- Lowers operating costs
- Cost savings through automation
- Automation lowers the possibility of human error.
- Automatic key distribution and updating to any endpoint
- Tamper-evident recordings are made available as evidence of compliance.
- Scalability and high availability
- Meets regulatory requirements
- Make your key management lifetime simpler.
Compliance and Best Practices
Compliance requirements and laws require many crucial management practices. Users are expected to adhere to particular best practices to preserve the security of the cryptographic credentials used to safeguard sensitive data in accordance with NIST standards and laws such as PCI DSS, CMMC Solution, FIPS, and HIPAA.
Necessary actions to take to ensure adherence to laws and standards:
The most critical practice with cryptographic credentials is never hard-coding important attributes anywhere. The key is immediately compromised when a key is hard-coded into open-source code or any other type of code. The key value of one of your cryptographic algorithms is now accessible to anyone with that code, making the key unsafe.
Personnel should only have access to keys that are required for their jobs, according to the concept of least privilege. Tracking key usage ensures that only authorized users can access crucial cryptographic keys. If a key is misused or affected, only a small number of people can access the key, which reduces the number of potential suspects if the breach occurred within the company.
HSMs are tangible objects holding cryptographic keys and conducting on-site cryptographic operations. An attacker would need to physically remove the HSM from the location, steal the necessary number of access cards to gain access to the HSM, and figure out a way to get beyond the encryption technique that protects the keys to steal them successfully. Another effective key management storage technique is to use HSMs on the cloud. Even yet, it is always possible that the security of the Cloud Service Provider will be breached, giving an attacker access to the keys kept there.
Automation is a popular technique for preventing keys from being overused and exceeding their crypto period. Other steps in the key lifecycle, such as creating new keys, regularly backing them up, disseminating keys, suspending keys, and destroying keys, can be automated.
Another method many organizations use to guarantee the security and CMMC compliance requirements adherence of their key management infrastructure is creating and enforcing security policies pertaining to encryption keys. Security procedures provide the standards for behavior within a company and a different way to monitor who has access to and who does not.
Management is another important activity for any firm. The assignment of one person to approve the new user’s permission for keys, another to distribute the keys, and a third to manufacture the keys is an illustration of the division of roles. This method prevents the first person from stealing the key throughout the key’s delivery process or discovering its value during its generating phase.
