With the growing demand for regulatory compliance and concern for data privacy, organizations are taking advantage of encryption as a way to provide a "defense in depth" solution.  This approach is often impractical using only database encryption management tools alone.  Townsend Security has addressed this with their Alliance Key Manager Hardware Security Module (HSM).  Alliance Key Manager is a FIPS 140-2 certified solution that stores encryption keys on a hardware appliance.  This is a more secure approach and better meets compliance requirements because encryption keys do not reside with the encrypted data.

So what does an organization need to look for when selecting an encryption key management HSM?

1) Cost Effective
Cost should not be a barrier to compliance.  Townsend Security's encryption key management HSM is an affordable solution that can scale from small and medium sized organizations to the largest Enterprise.

2) Meet Compliance Requirements
Compliance regulations require encryption keys to be stored separately from the encrypted data to meet Separation of Duties and Dual Control best practices.  It is important to enforce separation of duties if you are trying to meet PCI-DSS.  This means preventing administrators from having access to both the encrypted data and the encryption keys.

3) Invest in a FIPS 140-Certified Solution
This gives you assurance that your encryption key management solution is certified to the highest standard for regulatory compliance.

4) Easy Integration
It is important that your encryption key management solution connects effortlessly to your applications and databases.

5) Automated Key Management Process
Your organization can save time and money when addressing compliance requirements by choosing an encryption key management HSM that automates all of your essential key management tasks - including rotation, retrieval, and generation - from one server or man, in a central location.

Want to learn more?  You can view a pre-recorded webinar titled "Encryption Key Management Simplified" and learn how encryption key management can be easy, why encryption key management is important, and what the barriers are to good encryption key management.