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Key Management Lifecycle Best Practices
Key Management Lifecycle Best Practices
Who it's for:
  • Enterprise and security architects
  • Information security specialists
  • Compliance and regulatory experts
  • Developers
  • System and network administrators
  • Operations specialists

Key Management Lifecycle Best Practices

Release Date: 12/19/2023

Working Group: Cloud Key Management

Cryptographic keys are essential for securing digital assets, yet managing these keys can be challenging for organizations that run applications in the cloud. Failure to securely manage cryptographic keys may lead to security breaches and data loss. There are also various regulatory requirements and guidelines related to key management, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, and NIST. These requirements ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data and systems that use cryptographic keys. However, it’s not always clear to enterprise customers and service providers how to achieve compliance with these requirements.

This document serves as guidance for enterprise technologists and service providers to effectively and securely manage cryptographic keys throughout the key management lifecycle. It outlines best practices for each phase of the key management lifecycle, advising organizations on how to establish a solid foundation that protects their sensitive data, mitigates the risks of unauthorized access and data breaches, and maintains regulatory compliance.

Key Takeaways:
  • Refresher on key management and encryption
  • Deep dive into each phase of the key management lifecycle: Generation, Distribution, Storage, Usage, Backup and Recovery, Revocation, Rotation, and Destruction
  • Best practices for planning a key management lifecycle solution
  • Considerations for the deployment of a key management lifecycle solution
  • Industry-specific differences to keep in mind
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Acknowledgements

Rajat Dubey
Rajat Dubey
Cybersecurity Expert, Allianz Commercial

Rajat Dubey

Cybersecurity Expert, Allianz Commercial

Rajat is an accomplished cybersecurity expert with over 13 years of experience safeguarding critical systems and data for global enterprises. His expertise spans cyber risk assessment, compliance, threat modeling, incident response, Penetration testing, Ethical hacking, Digital Forensic, Cloud Security and emerging technologies (AI, Blockchain, IoT, Quantum computing) for enhanced security.

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Sunil Arora
Sunil Arora
Associate Director Security Architecture

Sunil Arora

Associate Director Security Architecture

Sunil Arora is a cybersecurity expert with over 16 years of experience in financial institutions, healthcare, telecom, and technology services industries. He is a passionate cybersecurity advocate and an expert on cloud security, information security advising, secure design and architecture, and risk management. In addition, Sunil is an influencer and enabler for technology and business teams to make informed, effective information security...

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Christian Bollich Headshot Missing
Christian Bollich

Christian Bollich

Parth Jamodkar Headshot Missing
Parth Jamodkar

Parth Jamodkar

Vasan Kidambi Headshot Missing
Vasan Kidambi

Vasan Kidambi

Carlos Rombaldo Jr. Headshot Missing
Carlos Rombaldo Jr.

Carlos Rombaldo Jr.

Aakash Shah Headshot Missing
Aakash Shah

Aakash Shah

Parthasarathi Chakraborty
Parthasarathi Chakraborty
Associate VP, Cloud Security, Cyber Innovation and R&D

Parthasarathi Chakraborty

Associate VP, Cloud Security, Cyber Innovation and R&D

Partha has over 20 years of cyber security leadership experience in the financial services and healthcare industry. An active speaker and panelist in major cyber security conferences around the world, and frequently called in for views and interviews in electronic media like The Economist, UK. Very much passionate about learning new technologies and writing on recent groundbreaking cyber trends. He is also the founder of Cloud Security Pra...

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Iain Beveridge
Iain Beveridge
Senior Product Marketing Manager

Iain Beveridge

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Marina Bregkou
Marina Bregkou
Senior Research Analyst, CSA EMEA

Marina Bregkou

Senior Research Analyst, CSA EMEA

Dr. Vrettos Moulos
Dr. Vrettos Moulos

Dr. Vrettos Moulos

Dr. Vrettos Moulos is a senior research software engineer in Institute of Communication and Computer Systems in Greece. He holds a PhD in secure microservice architecture patterns from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

He has been a member, for more than 10 years, of software development teams creating mission critical applications (rule-based decision systems, sec...

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Vani Murthy
Vani Murthy
Sr. Information Security Compliance Advisor, Akamai Technologies

Vani Murthy

Sr. Information Security Compliance Advisor, Akamai Technologies

Vani has 20+ years of IT experience in the areas such as Security, Risk, Compliance, Cloud services (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS) architecture

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Sam Pfanstiel Ph.D.
Sam Pfanstiel Ph.D.
Principal, Technical Compliance, PCI

Sam Pfanstiel Ph.D.

Principal, Technical Compliance, PCI

As Principal Analyst at Toast, Sam is responsible for heading the Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance programs for this cloud-based fintech company. Over the past 27 years, Sam has held key roles in security, technology, and management, and developed expertise in multiple disciplines, including payments, PCI compliance, fraud, cloud service delivery, application development, mobile technology, infrastructure, and cryptography. This dive...

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Alex Rebo
Enterprise Security Architect

Alex Rebo

Enterprise Security Architect

20+ year of Information Security / Assurance, Risk Management in private and public sectors.

CEA, PMP, CISSP, CCSP, ITIL, AWS CSA-A

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Michael Roza
Michael Roza
Risk, Audit, Control and Compliance Professional at EVC

Michael Roza

Risk, Audit, Control and Compliance Professional at EVC

Since 2012 Michael has contributed to over 100 CSA projects completed by CSA's Internet of Things, Zero Trust/Software-Defined Perimeter, Top Threats, Cloud Control Matrix, Containers/Microservices, DevSecOps, and other working groups. He has also served as co-chair of CSA's Enterprise Architecture, Top Threats, and Security-as-a-Service working groups while also serving as the Standards Liaison Officer for IoT, ICS, EA, SECaaS, and Cloud K...

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Alex Sharpe
Alex Sharpe
Managing Director at Sharpe42

Alex Sharpe

Managing Director at Sharpe42

Mr. Sharpe is a long-time (+30 years) Cybersecurity, Governance, and Digital Transformation expert with real-world operational experience. Mr. Sharpe has run business units and has influenced national policy. He has spent much of his career helping corporations and government agencies create value while mitigating cyber risk. This provides him a pragmatic understanding of the delicate balance between Business realities, Cybersecurity, and O...

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