The modern world of cybersecurity can be a confusing place. There are tomes of data, regulations, and mandates in addition to the complex technical aspects. This is especially true when it comes to crypto key management systems (KMSs).

A crypto-abstraction layer (CAL) is, in its most general sense, an application programming interface (API) - also known as a library- that hides cryptographic details from program developers that they don’t need to know about (such as the brand of hardware they are using for their source of random numbers). They are essential in the world of InfoSec because those who are expert developers are not usually expert cryptographers or even security personnel and so they need all the help they can get when it comes to implementing cryptography.

In this article we will explore some of the reasons why HSMs can be difficult to use and look at a novel solution that helps to overcome these problems.

Crypto-agility, or cryptographic agility, is the capacity for an information security system to adopt an alternative to the original encryption method or cryptographic primitive without significant change to system infrastructure. NIST guidelines state “maintaining crypto agility is imperative” to prepare for the quantum computing era. Crypto-agility may be achieved through the adoption of new frameworks for incident response and application development, as well as the acquisition of a service software layer to facilitate crypto-agility in legacy applications.

Part 2 – Accelerating Time-to-Market

 With the increase in e-commerce and electronic communications on the one hand, and the growing challenges of cybercrime and data protection regulation on the other hand, cryptography is becoming an increasingly important business enabler.

Part 1 – Increasing Efficiency & Resilience

This two-part article discusses how cryptography is employed within organizations today and examines some of the challenges it raises, both for large, established enterprises and for start-ups within emerging markets such as FinTech, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain.

With the ever increasing number of online services and electronic transactions, business owners are becoming ever more dependent on the use cryptography to prevent sensitive information from cyber attackers.

A Key Management System (KMS) must be designed in a manner that supports the goals of each organization using the KMS. The aim of a security policy is to provide a secure working environment for the organization by establishing required security measures, protocols and controls. 

In this article, we discuss the various issues and present Cryptomathic’s approach to central key and crypto management that has been adopted by major banks.