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AWS KMS vs. CloudHSM: Choosing the Right Key Management

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announcement

This post details how to choose between AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and AWS CloudHSM, two cryptographic key management solutions on AWS. It outlines the distinct use cases, integration points, and cost structures of each service, helping engineers and architects select the most appropriate option for their specific security and compliance needs. The article emphasizes that AWS KMS is suitable for most cloud-based workloads due to its managed nature and broad integration, while CloudHSM is targeted at legacy applications or specific compliance requirements necessitating dedicated HSM instances.

  • →Differentiating AWS KMS and AWS CloudHSM
  • →Key decision factors for choosing between KMS and CloudHSM
  • →Shared security and compliance benefits
  • →Performance and operational considerations
  • →Cost-effectiveness analysis for KMS
Notes (5) ›
  • Differentiating AWS KMS and AWS CloudHSM

    AWS KMS is a fully managed service for most key management needs, integrating widely with AWS services. AWS CloudHSM is a specialized option for use cases requiring dedicated HSM instances or support for legacy applications and traditional HSM interfaces like PKCS#11, JCE, and OpenSSL Provider.

  • Key decision factors for choosing between KMS and CloudHSM

    Key decision points include deployment model (managed vs. customer-managed HSMs), cost structure (pay-per-use vs. hourly instance rates), AWS service integration capabilities, and regional availability. CloudHSM is recommended for direct integration with third-party tools or when legacy algorithms like 3DES and PKCS#1 v1.5 are required.

  • Shared security and compliance benefits

    Both AWS KMS and CloudHSM offer tamper-resistant, HSM-based key management with physical data center controls, TLS security, and FIPS 140-3 Level 3 validated hardware. They both meet compliance frameworks like PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and FedRAMP, and protect sensitive data such as PII and PHI.

  • Performance and operational considerations

    AWS KMS supports high request rates without explicit customer management, while CloudHSM requires provisioning additional instances for higher throughput and customer management of high availability. KMS offers operational simplicity through automatic key rotation, auto-scaling, and disaster recovery.

  • Cost-effectiveness analysis for KMS

    AWS KMS is generally more cost-effective for workloads with less than 1 billion operations per month. A cost comparison example shows AWS KMS can be significantly cheaper, even at scale, due to AWS service caching of Data Encryption Keys (DEKs) which reduces API calls.

Read the original announcement →

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/aws-kms-or-aws-cloudhsm-choose-the-right-key-management-solution/

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