CloudHSM

CloudHSM

  • KMS => AWS manages the software encryption
  • CloudHSM => AWS provisions encryption hardware, we have to use our own client to do the encryption
  • HSM device is tamper resistant, FIPS 140-2 Level 3 compliant
  • HSM cluster can be set across multiple AZ (HA)
  • Supports both symmetric and asymmetric encryption (SSL/TLS keys)
  • No free tier available for CloudHSM
  • Redshift supports CloudHSM for database encryption and key management
  • CloudHSM is also a good idea for SSE-C encryption for S3
  • AWS can not recover credentials keys in case they are lost!