Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

AWS CloudHSM VS Amazon Key Management Service

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

AWS CloudHSM logo AWS CloudHSM

Data Security

Amazon Key Management Service logo Amazon Key Management Service

Sysadmin
  • AWS CloudHSM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-02-02
  • Amazon Key Management Service Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-15

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.

Amazon Key Management Service features and specs

  • Scalability
    Amazon KMS is designed to automatically scale with your needs, accommodating a large number of keys and encryption operations without requiring manual intervention.
  • Integration
    KMS seamlessly integrates with other AWS services, making it easier to incorporate encryption into your existing AWS infrastructure and workflows.
  • Security and Compliance
    Amazon KMS offers high levels of security, including key rotation and access controls, and helps in meeting various compliance requirements such as PCI-DSS and HIPAA.
  • Centralized Key Management
    Provides a central place to manage encryption keys, enabling simplified oversight and control over data encryption across multiple services.
  • Cost-Effective
    Offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, allowing you to manage costs effectively by only paying for what you use.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon Key Management Service

  • Complexity in Setup
    Setting up and managing KMS may require a steep learning curve, especially for those unfamiliar with AWS services or encryption practices.
  • AWS-Dependent
    Tightly integrated with the AWS ecosystem, limiting its usefulness to environments that are fully AWS-centric and less beneficial if multi-cloud strategies are in place.
  • Latency
    Operations using KMS could introduce additional latency in applications, as each encryption, decryption, or key management operation may involve network calls.
  • Cost Over Time
    Costs can accumulate over time, especially for large-scale deployments or high-frequency encryption operations, sometimes making the service expensive compared to other solutions.
  • Limited Customizability
    While KMS offers robust features, it may lack the degree of customizability offered by on-premises or alternative key management solutions tailored to specific use cases.

AWS CloudHSM videos

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

Amazon Key Management Service videos

No Amazon Key Management Service videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AWS CloudHSM and Amazon Key Management Service)
Security & Privacy
69 69%
31% 31
Network & Admin
45 45%
55% 55
Password Management
64 64%
36% 36
Cloud Storage
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Amazon Key Management Service should be more popular than AWS CloudHSM. It has been mentiond 43 times since March 2021. 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.

AWS CloudHSM mentions (5)

Amazon Key Management Service mentions (43)

  • AWS KMS Deep Dive - The Mystery Of Envelope Encryption
    AWS Key Management Service (KMS) allows you to create/manage encryption keys that are used to encrypt/decrypt and sign/verify data. AWS internally uses KMS across many services for encryption, so even if you’re not familiar with it, there’s a high chance you’ve already used it while working with other services (like while creating an S3 bucket!). - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Show Dev: Introducing Protect.js
    Key Management Services (KMS) like AWS KMS or Azure KeyVault mitigate these problems with a technique called envelope encryption. Instead of storing an encryption key in an application environment variable, a root_key is stored within the cloud provider's infrastructure inside a device called a Hardware Security Module (HSM). - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Continuous Delivery applied to Authorization with IAM Identity Center and AWS IAM Access Analyzer – Part 2
    AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS): lets you create, manage, and control cryptographic keys across your applications and more than 100 AWS services. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Amazon EventBridge Pipes now supports customer managed KMS keys
    📌 Explore more about CMKs: https://aws.amazon.com/kms/. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • End-to-End AWS KMS Encryption and Decryption Tutorial
    Data security is increasingly important, and encryption is one of the most effective ways to defend against unauthorized access. Keyper streamlines AWS IAM role and KMS key management by automating the role and key creation and key rotation, simplifying permission management, and providing a clear, developer-friendly interface. Keyper reduces the complexity of securing sensitive data, enabling engineers to focus... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

nCipher nShield General Purpose HSM - nCipher nShield General Purpose HSM is a security solution that provides modules in order to achieve cryptographic algorithms like managing encryption and signing keys, as well as executing sensitive functions within the organization.

Egnyte - Enterprise File Sharing

Thales SafeNet Luna HSM - Thales SafeNet Luna HSM is an open-source HSM that protects encryption keys used by applications in on-premises, virtual, and cloud environments.

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

Utimaco SecurityServer - Utimaco SecurityServer is a Hardware Security Module that offers cryptographic key security for database servers no matter how large scale your organization is.