Thales addresses enterprise encryption key governance for Microsoft Azure
Thales, leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, announces it is collaborating with Microsoft to provide key management services for Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365 that will allow organizations to maximize the control of their data and provide the highest level of assurance, regardless of whether the data is on premise or in the cloud.
Secure key management is essential to protecting data. Microsoft Azure-based applications use Azure Key Vault to access a variety of key management capabilities such as key creation, backup and rotation as well as basic crypto operations like encrypt/decrypt and sign, – all within the secure boundary of a Thales hardware security module (HSM). A typical organization has data, key and apps distributed across the cloud and on premise. Regardless of where the keys are stored, the integrated vision of the two companies is to provide a consistent single pane of glass allowing enterprises to effectively manage their encryption keys across diverse environments, enforce business policy and workflow for how keys are provisioned, stored, accessed and monitored.
The cloud is making businesses reassess how they think about and use technology. Shared services and public cloud infrastructures, however, do not always have a clear demarcation of tenant execution and storage space so the security of the services therefore depends on the level of protection given to the cryptographic keys used to protect the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. Thales already offers ‘bring your own key’ (BYOK) to Microsoft Azure, providing the confidence to trust the service with an organization’s most valuable assets. Our collaboration with Microsoft to offer key management-as-a-service will further enhance and simplify the governance around those keys.
Cindy Provin, Chief Strategy Officer at Thales e-Security
Thales is working to deliver an integrated key management service that provides the following:
- Integrated and enhanced key authorization including single sign on (SSO), separation of duties enforcements, authoritative storage policies and automatic synchronization of keys
- Data loss prevention arising out of process encryption key activity
- Data outage prevention due to key expirations with automated alerts and business workflows on encryption key lifecycles
- Higher visibility of critical process with enhanced encryption key monitoring, discovery and usage reports
As our customers ingest more and more keys to encrypt an ever-growing variety of Microsoft Azure resources, the ability to manage and govern those keys becomes critical to staying in control. Thales Key management-as-a-service for Azure is a great step forward in answering customer demands for central visibility of all those keys as well as the ability to govern them.
Sumedh Barde, Group Program Manager, Microsoft Azure Key Vault at Microsoft
Thales e-Security is the leader in advanced data security solutions and services, delivering trust wherever information is created, shared or stored. We ensure that company and government data is secure and trusted in any environment – on premise, in the cloud, in data centers and in big data environments – without sacrificing business agility. Security doesn’t just reduce risk, it’s an enabler of the digital initiatives that now permeate our daily lives – digital money, e-identities, healthcare, connected cars and with the internet of things (IoT) even household devices. Thales provides everything an organization needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property and meet regulatory compliance – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenization, privileged user control and meeting the highest standards of certification for high assurance solutions. Security professionals around the globe rely on Thales to confidently accelerate their organization’s digital transformation. Thales e-Security is part of Thales Group. www.thales-esecurity.com