Hardware security modules (HSMs) have gained significant visibility in the cybersecurity world over recent years—and for good reason. HSMs offer some of the strongest protections available for securing private keys and sensitive cryptographic material.
While many organizations have already implemented HSMs, others still rely on storing cryptographic keys in the cloud, on end-user devices, or across various software systems with minimal protection. This approach creates serious security gaps and is not recommended for enterprise-level key management. If this situation sounds familiar, an HSM may be the next step toward strengthening your security posture.
This article provides an overview of HSMs, highlights major vendors, and explores whether an HSM is the right fit for your environment.
What Are Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)?
Hardware security modules are purpose-built appliances designed to protect an organization’s most sensitive cryptographic assets—such as root of trust keys, code signing keys, and certificate authority keys.
Most commonly, HSMs are customer-managed physical devices stored on-premises or in a secure data center. They can also be deployed virtually through cloud providers, with some vendors offering fully managed HSM services that include PKI and key management support.
Although different models vary in features, nearly all HSMs provide three core capabilities:
Hardened security for private keys
Tamper resistance
Detailed access logging and audit trails
1. Hardened Security for Private Keys
If an attacker gains access to critical private keys—such as a root certificate or code signing key—the consequences can be severe. Storing such material inside an HSM dramatically reduces risk.
Most HSMs are FIPS 140-2 certified, often at Level 2 or 3, and some even achieve Level 4, the highest tier of commercial certification. These standards ensure that private keys remain protected within secure, tamper-resistant hardware.
2. Tamper Resistance
3. Detailed Access Logs
HSMs certified at Level 3 or higher must include robust audit logging. This allows security teams to track all attempts—successful or not—to access or modify cryptographic keys stored in the device.
This combination of hardened protection, tamper resistance, and visibility is what makes HSMs a strong investment for safeguarding mission-critical cryptographic material.
Does an HSM Make Sense For My Enterprise?
If your business relies on digital services, software, or cloud infrastructure, cryptographic keys are already at the core of your security strategy. Keys secure websites, authenticate servers, protect email, sign code, encrypt data, and much more.
To help determine whether an HSM is right for you, consider the following questions:
Do you use TLS/HTTPS to secure servers?
Do you access servers through SSH?
Do you operate a corporate VPN?
Are you moving toward a zero-trust architecture?
Do you digitally sign documents or code?
Do you sign or encrypt email or backup files?
Do you encrypt sensitive data in databases?
Do you store or process regulated data (PCI, PII, HIPAA, GDPR, classified, etc.)?
Do you manage or rely on a PKI?
If you answered yes to any of these—and you’re not using HSMs to protect private key material—now is the time to consider adopting one.
Challenges With Hardware Security Modules
Performance Limitations
HSMs protect private keys, but the added security can slow the digital signature process, particularly for high-volume or large-file use cases like code signing or document signing.
In fast-paced DevOps environments, slow signing workflows can disrupt CI/CD pipelines and delay releases. When teams rely on manual file uploads or inefficient signing workflows, performance bottlenecks become unavoidable.
Integration Complexity
Another common challenge is the lack of native integrations. HSMs often expose limited APIs—typically PKCS#11, JCE, or CAPI/CNG—which do not support every tool used across an enterprise.
When an organization relies on tools that don’t natively integrate with its HSM, it may need to build custom connectors. This can be costly, time-consuming, and difficult to maintain. As a result, some teams fall back on storing private keys locally—improving performance but compromising security.
GaraTrust: The Perfect Complement To Any HSM Device
Garantir recognized these challenges and designed GaraTrust to address them.
GaraTrust enhances HSM deployments through:
Client-side hashing for dramatically improved signing performance
Secure proxied access to private keys stored in any HSM
More than a dozen native client integrations, including Apple, Microsoft, Java, RPM, Linux, GPG, OpenSSL, and others
This makes it simple to deploy secure, high-performance digital signatures across an enterprise—without custom development and without exposing private keys.
See GaraTrust in Action
If you’d like to explore how GaraTrust can improve security and performance throughout your organization, the Garantir team is happy to help. We offer free hosted proofs-of-concept, so you can experience the benefits firsthand without opening firewalls or hosting software yourself.
