With the increasing dependence on cryptography to protect digital assets and communications, the ever-present vulnerabilities in modern computing systems, and the growing sophistication of cyber attacks, it has never been more important, nor more challenging, to keep your cryptographic keys safe and secure. A single compromised key could lead to a massive data breach with the consequential reputational damage, punitive regulatory fines and loss of investor and customer confidence.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard to prevent credit card fraud and protect against numerous additional security threats & vulnerabilities.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard to protect against credit card fraud and numerous additional security threats & vulnerabilities. Credit/Debit card providers, such as MasterCard and Visa etc., implement the mechanisms and security controls specified and suggested in PCI DSS.

This article discusses the main phases involved in the lifecycle of a cryptographic key, and how the operational lifetime of a key and its strength can be determined.

Part 3: Choosing the Right Key Management System

In this concluding part, we will examine the business case for introducing a new key management system and define 20 criteria to help you select the optimal solution for both your current and future needs.

Part 2: The Requirement for a Key Management System

In Part 1of this three-part article, we introduced the concept of key management and the functions and benefits of a key management system. In this part, we will consider how the requirement for a new key management system arises and then explore the underlying business drivers and benefits of such a system in each scenario.

Part 1: What is a Key Management System?

In this, the first part of a three-part article, we start off by looking at what key management is, the function of a key management system and the benefits it provides.

This article is intended as a primer on the classification of cryptographic keys used for securing digital applications.

Appropriate management of cryptographic keys is essential for the application of cryptography. This is often aided by the use of a hardware security module (HSM), a dedicated hardware machine with an embedded processor that offers cryptographic services to users, applications, and computers in a network, and which explicitly protects cryptographic keys at every phase of their life cycle.