Category: AWS CloudHSM

January 25, 2023: We updated this post to reflect the fact that CloudHSM SDK3 does not support serverless environments and we strongly recommend deploying SDK5. AWS CloudHSM provides hardware security modules (HSMs) in the AWS Cloud. With CloudHSM, you can generate and use your own encryption keys in the AWS Cloud, and manage your keys […]

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is pleased to announce that AWS CloudHSM is certified for Payment Card Industry Personal Identification Number (PCI PIN) version 3.1. With CloudHSM, you can manage and access your keys on FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified hardware, protected with customer-owned, single-tenant hardware security module (HSM) instances that run in your own virtual private […]

AWS CloudHSM provides a cloud-based hardware security module (HSM) that enables you to easily generate and use your own encryption keys in AWS. Using CloudHSM as part of a Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) public key infrastructure (PKI) fortifies the security of your certificate authority (CA) private key and ensures the security of […]

March 15, 2022: This post has been updated to correct typos. With AWS Certificate Manager Private Certificate Authority (ACM Private CA) you can create private certificate authority (CA) hierarchies, including root and subordinate CAs, without the investment and maintenance costs of operating an on-premises CA. In this post, I will explain how you can use […]

August 31, 2021: AWS KMS is replacing the term customer master key (CMK) with AWS KMS key and KMS key. The concept has not changed. To prevent breaking changes, AWS KMS is keeping some variations of this term. More info. AWS CloudHSM provides fully-managed hardware security modules (HSMs) in the AWS Cloud. CloudHSM automates day-to-day […]

As customers migrate workloads into Amazon Web Services (AWS) they may be running a combination of on-premises and cloud infrastructure. When certificates are issued to this infrastructure, having a common root of trust to the certificate hierarchy allows for consistency and interoperability of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solution. In this blog post, I am […]

Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently released PCKS #11 Library version 5.0 for AWS CloudHSM. This blog post describes the changes implemented in the new library. We also cover a simple encryption example with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM), dockerized, running on AWS Fargate. The primary change from the previous SDK […]

As you prepare to build or migrate your workload on Amazon Web Services (AWS), designing your encryption scheme can be a challenging—and sometimes confusing—endeavor. This blog post gives you a framework to select the right AWS cryptographic services and tools for your application to help you with your journey. I share common repeatable cryptographic patterns, […]

Customers use code signing certificates to digitally sign software, documents, and other certificates. Signing is a cryptographic tool that lets users verify that the code hasn’t been altered and that the software, documents or other certificates can be trusted. This blog post shows you how to configure your applications so you can use a key […]

In this post, I review the options you have to protect your customer data when migrating or building new databases in Amazon Web Services (AWS). I focus on how you can support sensitive workloads in ways that help you maintain compliance and regulatory obligations, and meet security objectives. Understanding transparent data encryption I commonly see […]