Hardware security module

Typical external, network-connected HSM

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Internal PCIe HSM adapter validated to FIPS 140-2 Level 4 (IBM Crypto Express)

A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys for strong authentication and provides cryptoprocessing. These modules traditionally come in the form of a plug-in card or an external device that attaches directly to a computer or network server.

History

Humans have tried to establish and maintain confidential lines of communication for millennia, rarely with enduring success. During World War II governments and military organizations invested heavily in encryption systems (cryptographic "defense") and code breaking (cryptographic "offense"). However, civilian and commercial adoption of encryption systems lagged considerably, in large part due to legal and regulatory constraints. As global trade and the financial industry flourished after World War II, and as national economic security became more strategic, commercial exploitation of strong encryption emerged as a national imperative in the United States and in several other countries.

The work of Mohamed Atalla (alias Martin Atalla) in the early 1970s led to the use of high security modules. He invented a high security module dubbed the "Atalla Box", a security system which encrypted PIN and ATM messages, and protected offline devices with an un-guessable PIN-generating key. He founded Atalla Corporation (now Utimaco Atalla) and introduced the "Atalla Box" in 1973. Fearful that Atalla would dominate the market, banks and credit card companies began working on an international standard. The later IBM 3624 adopted a similar PIN verification process. The Atalla Box is still widely used, as of 2016. By 1998 an estimated 70% of all ATM transactions in the United States were routed through specialized Atalla hardware modules, and by 2003 the Atalla Box secured 80% of all ATM machines in the world, increasing to 85% as of 2006.

In the 1970s, the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) sponsored a standardization process for cryptographic algorithms to be available for civilian use. IBM submitted its Data Encryption Standard (DES) on a royalty free basis for the NBS's consideration (and U.S. National Security Agency review), and the U.S. declared DES the U.S. commercial symmetric-key encryption algorithm standard in 1977. Within the same year IBM introduced the IBM 3845, the world's first generally commercially available (i.e. civilian) HSM that was directly attached (via IBM's channel I/O architecture) to general purpose IBM computers, including IBM mainframes. The IBM 3845 included secure key entry devices (cards and PIN pads) for master key loading, random number generation capabilities for seeding, and persistent storage for key materials. IBM introduced enabling software, notably a predecessor to IBM's Integrated Cryptographic Service Facility (ICSF), to allow application programmers to take advantage of the HSM's services. The IBM 3845 helped launch and secure modern electronic banking, such as national and international Automatic Teller Machine and payment card networks. IBM quickly introduced a second generation IBM 3845 HSM that supported both DES and TDES. Other vendors then also introduced various HSMs, also based initially on DES then TDES.

HSMs have continued to evolve and improve ever since, but modern HSMs, including IBM's, still broadly resemble the IBM 3845's basic architecture: direct attachment (typically now via dedicated network or bus attachment, sometimes with the HSM embedded), some level of tamper protection (or at least tamper evident packaging) in varying degrees and certification levels, some mechanism for loading and managing key materials with varying levels of trust, random number generation capabilities, persistent storage, and software features (drivers, libraries, etc.) to access the HSM's services from both general purpose and specialized computing environments, including transaction processing systems.

Design

HSMs may have features that provide tamper evidence such as visible signs of tampering or logging and alerting, or tamper resistance which makes tampering difficult without making the HSM inoperable, or tamper responsiveness such as deleting keys upon tamper detection. Each module contains one or more secure cryptoprocessor chips to prevent tampering and bus probing, or a combination of chips in a module that is protected by the tamper evident, tamper resistant, or tamper responsive packaging.

Many HSM systems have means to securely back up the keys they handle outside of the HSM. Keys may be backed up in wrapped form and stored on a computer disk or other media, or externally using a secure portable device like a smartcard or some other security token.

Because HSMs are often part of a mission-critical infrastructure such as a public key infrastructure or online banking application, HSMs can typically be clustered for high availability and performance. Some HSMs feature dual power supplies and field replaceable components such as cooling fans to conform to the high-availability requirements of data center environments and to enable business continuity.

The ENFORCER SRX1 Tamper-Proof Server

A few of the HSMs available in the market have the ability to execute specially developed modules within the HSM's secure enclosure. Such an ability is useful, for example, in cases where special algorithms or business logic has to be executed in a secured and controlled environment. The modules can be developed in native C language, in .NET, Java, or other programming languages. While providing the benefit of securing application-specific code, these execution engines protect the status of an HSM's FIPS or Common Criteria validation.

General-purpose hardware security module utilizing a FIPS 140-2 Level 4 validated cryptographic module.

Security

Due to the critical role they play in securing applications and infrastructure, HSMs and/or the cryptographic modules are typically certified to internationally recognized standards such as Common Criteria or FIPS 140 to provide users with independent assurance that the design and implementation of the product and cryptographic algorithms are sound. The highest level of FIPS 140 security certification attainable is Security Level 4 (Overall), to which only one HSM has been successfully validated as of August 2018. When used in financial payments applications, the security of an HSM is often validated against the HSM requirements defined by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.

Uses

A hardware security module can be employed in any application that uses digital keys. Typically the keys must be of high-value - meaning there would be a significant, negative impact to the owner of the key if it were compromised.

The functions of an HSM are:

• onboard secure cryptographic key generation
• onboard secure cryptographic key storage, at least for the top level and most sensitive keys, which are often called master keys
• key management
• use of cryptographic and sensitive data material, for example, performing encryption or digital signature functions
• offloading application servers for complete asymmetric and symmetric cryptography.

HSMs are also deployed to manage Transparent Data Encryption keys for databases and keys for storage devices such as disk or tape.

HSMs provide both logical and physical protection of these materials, including cryptographic keys, from disclosure, non-authorized use, and potential adversaries.

HSMs support both symmetric and asymmetric (public-key) cryptography. For some applications, such as certificate authorities and digital signing, the cryptographic material is asymmetric key pairs (and certificates) used in public-key cryptography. With other applications, such as data encryption or financial payment systems, the cryptographic material consists mainly of symmetric keys.

Some HSM systems are also hardware cryptographic accelerators. They usually cannot beat the performance of hardware-only solutions for symmetric key operations. However, with performance ranges from 1 to 10,000 1024-bit RSA signs per second, HSMs can provide significant CPU offload for asymmetric key operations. Since National Institute of Standards and Technology is recommending the use of 2,048 bit RSA keys from year 2010, performance at longer key sizes is becoming increasingly important. To address this issue, some HSMs now support elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which delivers stronger encryption with shorter key lengths.

PKI environment (CA HSMs)

In PKI environments, the HSMs may be used by certification authorities (CAs) and registration authorities (RAs) to generate, store, and handle asymmetric key pairs. In these cases, there are some fundamental features a device must have, namely:

• Logical and physical high-level protection
• Multi-part user authorization schema (see Blakley-Shamir secret sharing)
• Full audit and log traces
• Secure key backup

On the other hand, device performance in a PKI environment is generally less important, in both online and offline operations, as Registration Authority procedures represent the performance bottleneck of the Infrastructure.

Card payment system HSMs (Bank HSMs)

Electronic Fund Transfer HSM for Payment Systems

Specialized HSMs are used in the payment card industry. HSMs support both general-purpose functions and specialized functions required to process transactions and comply with industry standards. They normally do not feature a standard API.

Typical applications are transaction authorisation and payment card personalisation, requiring functions such as:

• verify that a user-entered PIN matches the reference PIN known to the card issuer
• in conjunction with an ATM controller or POS terminal, verify credit/debit card transactions by checking card security codes or by performing host processing components of an EMV based transaction
• support a crypto-API with a smart card (such as an EMV)
• re-encrypt a PIN block to send it to another authorisation host
• perform secure key management
• support a protocol of POS ATM network management
• support de facto standards of host-host key | data exchange API
• generate and print a "PIN mailer"
• generate data for a magnetic stripe card (PVV, CVV)
• generate a card keyset and support the personalisation process for smart cards

The major organizations that produce and maintain standards for HSMs on the banking market are the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, ANS X9, and ISO.

SSL connection establishment

Performance critical applications that have to use HTTPS (SSL/TLS), can benefit from the use of an SSL Acceleration HSM by moving the RSA operations, which typically requires several large integer multiplications, from the host CPU to the HSM device. Typical HSM devices can perform about 1 to 10,000 1024-bit RSA operations/second. Some performance at longer key sizes is becoming increasingly important. To address this issue, some HSMs now support elliptic curve cryptography. Specialized HSM devices can reach numbers as high as 20,000 operations per second.

DNSSEC

An increasing number of registries use HSMs to store the key material that is used to sign large zonefiles. An open source tool for managing signing of DNS zone files using HSM is OpenDNSSEC.

On January 27, 2007 deployment of DNSSEC for the root zone officially started; it was undertaken by ICANN and Verisign, with support from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Details of the root signature can be found on the Root DNSSEC's website.

Cryptocurrency wallet

An actual bitcoin transaction from a web based cryptocurrency exchange to a hardware wallet (HSM).

A hardware cryptocurrency wallet is a HSM in the form of a portable device.

See also

• Electronic funds transfer
• FIPS 140
• Public key infrastructure
• PKCS 11
• Secure cryptoprocessor
• Security token
• Transparent Data Encryption
• Security switch

External links

• Current NIST FIPS-140 certificates
• A Review of Hardware Security Modules