Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Cloud Key Management Service VS AWS CloudHSM

Compare Cloud Key Management Service VS AWS CloudHSM and see what are their differences

Cloud Key Management Service logo Cloud Key Management Service

Cloud KMS securely manages encryption keys and secrets on Google Cloud Platform. Generate, use, rotate, and destroy keys with tight usage restrictions

AWS CloudHSM logo AWS CloudHSM

Data Security
  • Cloud Key Management Service Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-29
  • AWS CloudHSM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-02-02

Cloud Key Management Service features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

AWS CloudHSM features and specs

  • Compliance Requirements
    AWS CloudHSM is compliant with various industry standards and regulations, such as FIPS 140-2 Level 3, enabling organizations to meet specific compliance requirements with ease.
  • Dedicated Hardware
    CloudHSM provides dedicated hardware Security Modules (HSMs) for enhanced security, offering physical and logical isolation from other users.
  • Customer Control
    Customers retain full control over the cryptographic keys and operations within the HSM, ensuring that AWS staff cannot access or manage these keys.
  • High Availability
    AWS CloudHSM can be configured for high availability, with automatic clustering and redundancy to ensure continuous operation and minimal downtime.
  • Scalability
    Users can add and remove HSMs on-demand, allowing for scalable performance and capacity that aligns with their needs.
  • Easy Integration
    CloudHSM integrates with various AWS services and third-party applications, allowing for seamless deployment of cryptographic operations.

Possible disadvantages of AWS CloudHSM

  • Cost
    CloudHSM can be more expensive compared to other AWS managed key services, as it involves the cost of dedicated hardware and additional management overhead.
  • Management Complexity
    The requirement for customer management of the HSMs introduces complexity, particularly for organizations without specialized staff or knowledge in cryptographic operations.
  • Hardware Dependencies
    Being dependent on physical hardware may limit the ability to quickly adapt to certain changes compared to entirely software-based solutions.
  • Region Availability
    AWS CloudHSM may not be available in all AWS regions, potentially limiting its usage for global applications that require region-specific deployments.
  • Initial Setup
    The initial setup and configuration process can be intricate and time-consuming, potentially requiring specialized expertise.

Analysis of AWS CloudHSM

Overall verdict

  • AWS CloudHSM is a robust solution for organizations needing high-level security for their cryptographic keys and want to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. It is particularly beneficial for organizations that require tight control of their data encryption and cryptographic processes.

Why this product is good

  • AWS CloudHSM is a hardware security module that provides a secure environment for generating, storing, and managing encryption keys. It offers the advantage of full control over cryptographic key management while being compliant with various security standards like FIPS 140-2. AWS CloudHSM can help meet stringent regulatory and compliance requirements by offering strong data protection and encryption capabilities. Additionally, it integrates with other AWS services, streamlining cloud deployment and management.

Recommended for

    AWS CloudHSM is recommended for organizations in heavily regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government, where data security and compliance are paramount. It is also a good fit for businesses that need to manage their own encryption keys and require integration with AWS cloud services.

Cloud Key Management Service videos

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AWS CloudHSM videos

AWS re:Inforce 2019: Achieving Security Goals with AWS CloudHSM (SDD333)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Cloud Key Management Service and AWS CloudHSM)
Password Management
22 22%
78% 78
Security & Privacy
11 11%
89% 89
Network & Admin
24 24%
76% 76
IT Service Management
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Cloud Key Management Service might be a bit more popular than AWS CloudHSM. We know about 6 links to it since March 2021 and only 5 links to AWS CloudHSM. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Cloud Key Management Service mentions (6)

  • Where to store credentials?
    If you're using GCP, look at KMS. If you're deploying to a VM/GKE/Cloud Functions you can add an identity to the VM/pod/function respectively and grant IAM permissions such that the machine account can fetch credentials. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Wait... can I just reference PEM files stored in Secret Manager directly from a Cloud Run instance??
    You should check out Google's Cloud KMS platform. It's specifically built for managing keys and may be a better fit for your use case. Source: over 2 years ago
  • A case for secure web3 operations
    This makes private keys more sensitive than your average application secret, so storing them in plaintext in a dot-env file in a server where half the dev team has ssh access is not a good idea. It is key (pun intended) to leverage key management solutions that can keep the key safely stored. There are managed cloud-based options, such as GCP KMS or AWS KMS, self-managed like Hashi Vault, and even hardware... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • How to store private key on a VPS in a secure manner?
    Have a look at https://aws.amazon.com/kms/ or https://cloud.google.com/security-key-management. Source: over 2 years ago
  • GCP security best practices
    GCP Cloud Key Management Service (KMS) is a cloud-hosted key management service that allows you to manage symmetric and asymmetric encryption keys for your cloud services in the same way as onprem. It lets you create, use, rotate, and destroy AES 256, RSA 2048, RSA 3072, RSA 4096, EC P256, and EC P384 encryption keys. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
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AWS CloudHSM mentions (5)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Cloud Key Management Service and AWS CloudHSM, you can also consider the following products

Amazon Key Management Service - Sysadmin

Azure Key Vault - Safeguard cryptographic keys and other secrets used by cloud apps and services with Microsoft Azure Key Vault. Try it now.

Unbound Key Control - Unbound Key Control is a software suite that provides visibility, control, and audit of secrets across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Egnyte - Enterprise File Sharing

GnuPG - GnuPG is a complete and free implementation of the OpenPGP standard as defined by RFC4880 (also known as PGP).

Lastpass - LastPass is an online password manager and form filler that makes web browsing easier and more secure.