CODEWITHSUNDEEP
amazon-web-servicescloudamazon-kms
user11607387
user11607387

Reputation:

What are the differences between AWS Cloud HSM and KMS?

I am trying to understand the key management services in AWS (Amazon Web Services) and I can see that Amazon recommends more AWS Key Management Service (KMS) over Cloud Hardware Security Module (Cloud HSM). But I am having a hard time finding the key differences between the two, KMS vs Cloud-HSM.

Can someone please list a few key differences or a comparison of the two technologies?

Upvotes: 18

Views: 22101

Answers (4)

Frida Schenker
Frida Schenker

Reputation: 1509

Feature AWS Cloud HSM AWS KMS
Tenancy Single-Tenant Multi-Tenant
High Availability: How to achieve? Create multiple HSMs (manually) over different AZs Managed (automatically) by AWS
Scaling/Performance Responsibility Your responsibility AWS
Key access: Who controls it? You You+AWS
Keys: How to use? Customer code + Safenet APIs AWS Management Console
Keys: Where to use? AWS & Your Network (VPN) AWS
AWS Services Integration A small set of services
(Redshift, Oracle RDS etc.)		 Most services fully integrated
Access & Authentication Policy Quorom based K of N AWS IAM Policy
Price $$ $
FIPS 140-2 Compliance Level 3 Level 3

Source: AWS official documentation + multiple courses I took for the AWS exams + practical experience.

Upvotes: 33

heschmat
heschmat

Reputation: 113

AWS Key Management System (KMS)

  • primary service for encryption in AWS
  • it's a managed service (i.e. AWS manages the encryption hardware, software & keys for you)
  • integrated with many AWS services including EBS, S3, Redshift & CloudTrail
  • FIPS 140-2 Compliance: Level 2

AWS CloudHSM (hardware security module)

  • AWS provisions the hardware & you do everything else
    • AWS cannot access or recover your keys
  • integrated with a limited number of other AWS services
  • FIPS 140-2 Compliance: Level 3 (i.e., more secure)

HSM is more expensive and most used by larger companies, or if you have hard compliance requirements.

Upvotes: 0

Jess
Jess

Reputation: 3715

The AWS KMS custom key store feature combines the controls provided by AWS CloudHSM with the integration and ease of use of AWS KMS

Q: Why would I need to use a custom key store? Since you control your AWS CloudHSM cluster, you have the option to manage the lifecycle of your CMKs independently of AWS KMS

From official documentation, it seems that KMS is a basic feature, and you can get a senior feature by expanding with CloudHSM.

Upvotes: 1

Prajna Rai T
Prajna Rai T

Reputation: 1820

Developers describe AWS CloudHSM as "Dedicated Hardware Security Module (HSM) appliances within the AWS cloud". The AWS CloudHSM service allows you to protect your encryption keys within HSMs designed and validated to government standards for secure key management. You can securely generate, store, and manage the cryptographic keys used for data encryption such that they are accessible only by you. AWS CloudHSM helps you comply with strict key management requirements without sacrificing application performance.

On the other hand, AWS Key Management Service is detailed as "Easily create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data". AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data, and uses Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to protect the security of your keys. AWS Key Management Service is integrated with other AWS services including Amazon EBS, Amazon S3, and Amazon Redshift. AWS Key Management Service is also integrated with AWS CloudTrail to provide you with logs of all key usage to help meet your regulatory and compliance needs.

AWS CloudHSM and AWS Key Management Service can be categorized as "Data Security Services" tools.

Some of the features offered by AWS CloudHSM are:

1]Protect and store your cryptographic keys with industry standard, tamper-resistant HSM appliances. No one but you has access to your keys (including Amazon administrators who manage and maintain the appliance).

2]Use your most sensitive and regulated data on Amazon EC2 without giving applications direct access to your data's encryption keys.

3]Store and access data reliably from your applications that demand highly available and durable key storage and cryptographic operations.

On the other hand, AWS Key Management Service provides the following key features:

1]Centralized Key Management

2]Integrated with AWS services

3]Encryption for all your applications

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions