Gemalto announced a next-generation key management solution, SafeNet Virtual KeySecure, for simpler and stronger cloud security. Companies can extend their data protection policies to private and public clouds and centralize encryption and key management operations across multiple cloud environments.

SafeNet Virtual KeySecure integrates with leading cloud service providers and virtual platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V and OpenStack, to provide companies with a single key management solution spanning multiple private or public cloud environments.

As a result of the ongoing digital transformation within many organizations, data now resides across a growing number of cloud environments and web applications. Security teams are finding it ever more challenging to manage data protection policies, and solutions are often time-consuming and manual. Data protection operations can be simplified by using SafeNet Virtual KeySecure to uniformly view, control, and administer cryptographic policies and keys for sensitive data.

Companies can improve key security and simplify the audit preparation process by retaining ownership and control of encryption keys.

"Businesses need options when it comes to cloud security and shouldn't be limited to working in just one environment. With SafeNet Virtual KeySecure, organizations are able to move more workloads to the cloud and easily monitor the access and movement of their encrypted data," said Todd Moore, senior vice president of Encryption Products at Gemalto. "We are seeing a lot of customers who are interested in taking advantage of the business continuity offered by cloud environments, without compromising the security of their most critical asset, data. Current KeySecure customers would also be able to benefit from this new platform and we will be sharing details of a clear migration path with them in the near future."

SafeNet Virtual KeySecure offers customers:

• Centralized Key Management: Centralized, efficient auditing of key management offers simplified compliance for cloud environments and consolidates key security policies across multiple, disparate encryption systems, protecting current investments
• Flexibility: Customers can easily deploy flexible, high-availability configurations which are built on the latest industry standards, including containers and microservices, across geographically dispersed data centers or cloud service providers.
• Compatibility: Compatibility with the OASIS Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) standard provides support for a large, growing partner ecosystem, including the SafeNet Data Protection portfolio which provides customers with a broad spectrum of use cases that can be supported. SafeNet Virtual KeySecure also supports key storage in on-premise hardware security modules (HSMs).

According to Sudesh Kumar, Founder and CEO of Kapalya, Californian-based start-up: "As businesses connect to more devices and cloud platforms, they need solutions that offer security without limiting their potential for innovation. With SafeNet Virtual KeySecure, we're now able to offer the ability to protect data in a seamless and cost-effective way across endpoints, public clouds and private clouds. Businesses should no longer be held back in making full use of the cloud while retaining control of some of their most important assets."