Microsoft Windows RSA Key Size Change - Will It Impact You?

Microsoft has announced that the October Windows update will change Windows support for certain RSA key sizes.  Our customers have asked:  How will this affect our use of your encryption key manager? Do we need to worry?

No, you don’t need to worry. Here’s why:

Microsoft operating systems will remove support for RSA keys smaller than 1024-bits. The use of 1024-bit and larger keys will still be supported without change. So, only RSA keys that are SMALLER than 1024 are affected.

Alliance Key Manager, our encryption key management HSM, enforces the use of 2048-bit keys and does not allow they use of keys smaller than 1024 bits. NIST has recommended that applications migrate to larger RSA key sizes for some years, and we built Alliance Key Manager to meet those key size best practices. Today, no application should be using an RSA key that is less than 1024 bits.

Our existing customers will not be affected by this Microsoft change. If you are using Alliance Key Manager for Microsoft SQL Server Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), Microsoft SQL Server Cell Level Encryption, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 with SQL Server TDE, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or our Microsoft Windows .NET client applications, you will not be affected by this change.

We simply do not allow the use of insecure RSA key sizes.

Download our podcast "Encryption Key Management" to learn more about encryption key management and what auditors are looking for and how to easily manage your encryption keys.

Patrick