StorMagic – The Magic Bullet for Key Management?
With its announcement of SvKMS, StorMagic, known for leading-edge storage solutions, has officially entered the security marketplace. A key management system (KMS) provides a framework for managing keys throughout their lifecycle. SvKMS provides key management for any application that requires encryption in any location – edge, datacenter, or cloud – the proverbial magic bullet for KMS.
Organizations have been moving from decentralized and distributed key management to centralized key management systems for many years now in order to provide a secure and unified key lifecycle management system. As more organizations move workloads to the cloud, this quickly becomes a more cumbersome challenge. StorMagic’s SvKMS is a virtualized key management software solution that has been added to its portfolio of solutions.
The objective of centralized key management systems is to provide uniform key management across the organization using technology, policies, and processes that support the lifecycle of keys. The amount of data typically increases at a steady pace, therefore the volume of data that needs to be protected increases, which inherently boosts the number of encryption keys to be managed.
StorMagic’s stated goal is to eliminate the pain of encryption for customers by delivering an enterprise key management solution. SvKMS includes some important features, including:
- Full key lifecycle management and integrated backup and recovery
- Support for edge, datacenter, and cloud workflows
- FIPS 140-2 validation
- Robust cryptographic operators (defined in FIPS 140-2)
- Integration with existing hardware security modules (HSMs)
- Management of keys from one location
StorMagic’s SvKMS offering supports the company’s branding message, “Making the Complex Simple.” StorMagic has done this by releasing an encryption key management system that is flexible, robust, simple, and adaptable to any environment.
Source: StorMagic, accessed May 2020.
Our Take
The core benefits of a KMS are risk reduction, compliance efficiencies around process and controls, and cost reduction.
StorMagic’s entry into the security marketplace with the SvKMS solution is timely. As the public and private cloud infrastructures, IoT, and big data technologies grow significantly, the need for data security has also increased significantly due to the geo-distribution of data on various types of networks, devices, operating systems, etc.
Add in the latest data privacy laws and industry regulatory and compliance requirements such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation from the European Union) and PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and you end up with increased levels of complexity and overall costs that many organizations are not equipped to address efficiently.
It is refreshing to see a vendor that is developing solutions for the future to simplify the complexity of managing encryption keys. CISOs/CIOs should take note that StorMagic ensures useful functionality is included in the SvKMS solution such as detailed auditing and logging features that are exportable to mainstream security information and event management (SIEM) solutions – an integral factor in this day and age. Additionally, it is a cost-effective solution for modern key management across most organizations, regardless of size.
Info-Tech’s strategic suggestion is that organizations should review their security strategy regularly and understand how a KMS refresh supports their security strategy, compliance requirements, and, most importantly, the business strategy. Vendor lock-in should always be considered in the selection criteria, hence the need to review the security strategy.
Organizations that are planning or currently undertaking a key management project should consider StorMagic’s SvKMS solution. Its combination of scalability, affordability, ease of implementation, and overall key management capabilities for applications that require encryption in any location – edge, datacenter, or cloud – makes StorMagic a “key” contender in the KMS marketspace.
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