=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3402/paper10
|storemode=property
|title=The study of the HSM as a solution to file encryption and security
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3402/paper10.pdf
|volume=Vol-3402
|authors=Gliqiri Riza
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/rtacsit/Riza23
}}
==The study of the HSM as a solution to file encryption and security==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3402/paper10.pdf
The study of the HSM as a solution to file encryption and security
Gliqiri Riza
University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics, Tirana, Albania
Abstract
Nowadays with the development of technology and the fact that it has influenced every aspect of
people’s lives, the information is the most essential factor to be considered, since it is the fundamental
in which technology is being built. On the contrary, cybersecurity attacks are growing rapidly year
after year since everyone around the world is seriously involved in this wild race of having access to
the information owned by the others. Data breaches are also growing since hackers and non-authorized
parties are attacking organizations, companies and other institutions of high importance. As a result,
more and more companies are considering solutions that not only will protect the information, but will
also keep un-authorized parties away from having access to it. Encryption is considered one of the
most classic ways to ensure that sensitive information is converted into secret codes that will hide the
information from un-authorized access. But what’s the point to encrypting the information, when the
keys are not totally safe and are at risk of being exposed. Cryptographical keys should be stored, kept
and managed carefully, since their exposure would disclose the sensitive data the same way it as not
even encrypted. That is the reason why companies, organizations and institutions globally are using
Hardware Security Modules as the solution to secure and protect their sensitive data and to provide
functionality for their cyber security purposes, including authentication, authorization, data
confidentiality and data integrity. This paper aims to give a brief analysis of what a HSM is, how it
functions and how it helps the companies and organizations in the context of cybersecurity.
Furthermore, it will provide information on types of HSMs, architecture, different options offered on the market
and most common use cases inthe recent years.
Keywords
Encryption, HardwareSecurityModule, cryptography, randomness, PKI
HSM, which stands for the Hardware Security
1. Introduction Module is a physical computing device which can
While there are a lot of measures widely used to
provide functionalities for cybersecurity purposes,
protect sensitive data and keep the un-authorized
including authentication, authorization, data
parties away from having access to certain
confidentiality and data integrity [1].
information, encryption is one of the most used
and well-known methods to hide data’s true The Hardware Security Modules can be used in a
meaning behind secret codes, in such a way that wide variety of platforms and information systems
even if someone has access, he/she can’t environments, where cryptographic functionalities
understand the content without having the proper are used to offer a wider spectrum of protection and
key to decrypt it. On the other hand, encryption security. There are different types of HMSs, such as
has its own disadvantages because key stand-alone devices, plug-in cards or even Hardware
management brings potential security Security Modules that are built into other devices.
vulnerability since hackers can steal encryption Recently, the HSMs are well-known for being used
keys and with the stolen key it is quite easy to in cloud infrastructure, web servers, card payment
decrypt the information and have access to systems, banking and similar fields where important
sensitive and supposedly “protected” data. Thus, cryptographic operations such as key generation,
in order to ensure the security, during the recent encryption, decryption, signature generation and
years it is being used a key protection solution hash functions are combined with hardware
based on the hardware component of an components to ensure better data protection [2].
information system called HSM.
Proceedings of RTA-CSIT 2023, April 2023, Tirana, Albania
EMAIL: gliqeririza@hotmail.com
©️ 2023 Copyright for this paper by its author. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution4.0
International (CC BY4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
There are two main functions of a Hardware faced even with the system vulnerabilities. Some of
Security Module: them are for example different applications with
flawed interfaces, operating systems where
1. First of all, one of the most important protection is not at the best state, security policies
factors in using a HSM is that it provides that are often hard to be implemented and users as
secure management of cryptographic keys the weakest part, can easily cause the biggest
used in encryption process. This includes problems from flawed authentication, absence of
safe storage of keys, that is made possible knowledge or bad intentions. As a result, even
though it is harder to access an encapsulated circuit
by keeping and encapsulating the keys in
board (HSM) from the network side, network
an isolated environment which has interface can be as weak as the physical one.
dedicated mechanisms that prevent Moreover, HSMs are not only used to protect the
tampering [3]. information from un-authorized individuals, but can
2. On the other hand, another important also be used to protect against problematic sites, for
example, a company can store on an HSM not just
function of an HSM is also to provide
SSL private keys but the entire server end of a Web
hardware acceleration for various application, thus protecting its customers
cryptographic operations in order to information too [4].
increase the speed by which they are
performed.
1.1. Protection in three states
During the recent years, when the development of HSMs ensure security and protection of sensitive data
technology has entirely changed every aspect of in all three states of the information:
people’s lives, they are all being exposed to Data-in-transit
hackers, who are more and more exploiting The secure transmission of data-in-transit relies on
vulnerabilities of people, companies or systems to both encryption and authentication. Encryption does
profit more. It is now a wild race not only to have not make data secure, but not using encryption,
access to other’s personal data, but also to however, means that any data-in-transit is totally easy
sensitive or confidential information being to be read [5]. This is mainly achieved through TLS,
processed in the systems that are being used by Transport Layer Security, which is the protocol that
companies, hospitals and governmental works on the top of the transport layer to secure
institutions. As a result, since cryptography is application traffic and to provide end-to-end secure
always necessary when having something to communication [6].
protect, like information or money, HSMs Data-at-rest
combine additional hardware features, to ensure a This is also considered as storage encryption. It
more secure background for critical information protects data while it resides on the media/ device and
and financial assets. Thus, considering that it involves encrypting data that will be decrypted
cryptography is being used to protect secret data, when it flows through the same point in the opposite
the most important components that should be direction [7].
taken special care of are the encryption and Data-in-use
decryption keys used in the process, in order to be HSM ensure security of data-in-use predominantly by
kept secret from adversary and also to ensure
TEE, Trusted Execution Environment which is
confidentiality, integrity and availability. On the commonly known as an isolated processing
other hand, every time data or information environment in which applications can be securely
security is being discussed, it is said that physical executed irrespective of the rest of the system [8].
component are always more vulnerable when it
comes to attacks or exposure. In this perspective,
how safe is it for companies, banks or institutions 2. Cryptography and Security
to use the Hardware Security Modules as a critical Applying cryptographical operations in the real
component for the encryption key management? word systems requires some specifications and one
In the context of banks or other financial of the most important factors is randomness.
institutions that use the card payment method and Processes like key generation and management,
the HMSs architecture, physical protection has algorithms, encryption of information need
always been one of the most important things to unpredictable randomness even by a lot of efforts.
be remembered, even though in this case attacks As a result, this can be quite challenging and
via the software running the host computer of the difficult to be performed on a standard computer or
HSM are neither less dangerous nor serious. computing environment. Many types of
Nowadays everyone that has access on a network cryptographical algorithms such as RSA, DSA, and
such as office or school workstation, accessing Diffie-Hellman can be difficult for a standard CPU,
the Internet as a personal commodity or being since at the same time, this machine should also
handle Web requests, update information, manage
part of a more modern computing environment,
network packets, organize interactive user responses
has been
and so on. Thus, these processes are really time- this happens, hardware-derived bits can be
consuming and the machine has to do them in reprocessed through a pseudorandom number
cycles and still manage to be performant [9]. This generator. There are two types of generators for
is the reason why, in order to ensure the process producing random number sequences: True Random
is going to work fine and data protection and Number Generators (TRNGs) and Pseudo Random
security are still a priority, standard machines are Number Generators (PRNGs). Furthermore, since bits
supplied with additional specialized hardware are generated at some finite rate, it is better to
that will perform key generation and consider if there are enough bits available for the
management. In this case, the additional process.
hardware is the Hardware Security Module.
HSMs support both symmetric and asymmetric 2.1.1. TRNGs and PRNGs
(public-key) cryptography. For some Random number sequences are the fundamental for
applications, such as certificate authorities and many cryptographic algorithm and applications,
digital signing, the cryptographic processes are especially for the generation of strong and secure
managed in asymmetric key pairs. On the other keys that cannot be discovered by hackers or other
hand, with applications such as data encryption or attackers. This is the reason why it is important for
financial payment systems, the cryptographic the generated random numbers to be unpredictable.
algorithm consists mainly of symmetric keys There are different types of statistical tests that can
[10]. be applied to a sequence to evaluate the fact that the
From the Public-key cryptography context, basic sequence is truly random. To check the randomness
RSA encryption usually requires an algorithm of sequences many different indexes are suggested.
carefully designed to avoid cryptographic Each index emphasizes only one part of the
weaknesses. Signature verification for example phenomenon and measures its different aspects, for
requires performing cryptographic hashes and example, the distribution of elements in the
because of such processes and operations, an sequence, dependencies between contiguous
HSM’s cryptographic performance can incur an reactions, counting tendencies, etc. They are
unexpected dependence on the internal CPU, classified as Miyake et. al., 2000; Friedman &
especially if the HSM is matched with a too-slow Miyake, 2004; Towse & Neil, 1998. The first checks
CPU [4]. On the contrary, as it was stated above, equality of distribution of different possibilities, the
another application of HMSs is related to second checks indexes concerning relationships
symmetric cryptography. It often operates on very between consecutive responses and the third
large data items and since a fast machine does not concerns repetitions of the same options in different
help the process if it is fed slowly. This can result distances [12].
in an HSM that performs fast symmetric In the context of random number sequences there are
cryptography, only when data items are two main sources to generate them. TRNGs are
sufficiently massive and on smaller data items, the systems which extract randomness from non-
speed will be smaller too. algorithmic random phenomena, like temperature
fluctuations, radioactive decay, ambient radio noise,
2.1. Randomness hard disk access times, or user interactions with the
As it was mentioned above, one of the most PC. Since the phenomena used are unpredictable,
important factors required for the HSMs to TRNGs produce real random data instead of just
function properly is randomness. Furthermore, for random periodic sequences [13]. A PRNG, on the
ensuring correct cryptographical operations, the other hand, is an algorithm that generates numbers
seed used should be expanded into a longer that appear random. They are normally constructed
sequence that has to be random and undiscoverable from primitives such as block ciphers, hash
from any adversary [4]. As a result, in the key functions, and stream ciphers [14]. PRNGs require
generation and management process, some input (seeds), along with some deterministic
unpredictable and high-quality randomness is algorithms to generate multiple pseudo random
considered fundamental since it should avoid numbers. They are faster than True Random Number
worries and confusion related to the Generators and as a result are preferable when
undiscoverable seed, or the failure of the algorithm several random-like numbers or sequences are
used for the process [3]. This is the reason why required. TRNGs, as it was stated above, make use of
HMSs are used to generate keys. Their architecture non-deterministic sources along with some post-
is built as a hardware-based random number processing functions for generating randomness [15].
generator, which generates random bits from the
laws of physics, such as for example via a noisy 2.1.2. Noise sources
diode. On the other hand, as a physical component Random number sequences need entropy and the
of a system, HSMs as a hardware-based solution, main source how it is caused is from a noise source.
have their disadvantages, because sometimes the Noise sources are divided into two categories,
bits need to be reprocessed to correct for statistical physical and non-physical sources. Physical noise
bias. According to NIST’s standards [11], when
sources use dedicated hardware to generate frequency, temperature and voltage detection features,
randomness; whereas non-physical noise sources offered together with the user’s guide to each method in
use system data or human interaction input to order to customize his/ her own needs.
generate randomness. As system data is used for
example the output of API functions or data 2.3. Main functionalities
derived from RAM, while human inputs include
for example keyboard strokes or mouse The Hardware Security Modules have a wide variety
movements that are caused by the interaction with of uses that not only help in the encryption of
the machine. information, but also ensure the data protection and
security. Thus, there are some fundamental purposes
Since physical noise sources are considered to in the HSMs usage such as:
offer greater randomness, they are used in HSMs
in order to ensure more secure cryptographical 2.3.1. Generate, store and protect
processes. Moreover, it is easier to find physical cryptographic keys for the system’s PKI.
noise sources in the environment. These sources
include physical phenomena such as thermal noise, HSMs, whether they are standalone network-
atmospheric noise, radioactive decay, keyboard connected or plug-in devices, have built-in random
strokes or coin tossing. Noise sources are divided number generators that provide randomness and
in two classes: unpredictability of the keys [17]. Also, since they
Quantum-based noises are separate from servers, keys are kept secure from
Non-quantum-based noises generation to revocation or any possible destruction.
Noise sources based on quantum effects are very Furthermore, since HSMs are temper-resistant on
complex in implementation, but give stable results, both sides, physical or logical, their architecture is
while non-quantum sources are more economical, built such that erases or destroys all the
yet give unstable results. The quality of them cryptographic data in order to prevent corruption.
depends on various factors such as temperature This is known as ‘zeroization’. According to NIST,
[13]. after a key or a piece of secret data is destroyed/
zeroized, no information about its value can be
2.2. Tamper resistance recovered [11].
In cryptography and data encryption, the algorithm
2.3.2. Protection of keys from
used in the process is public and anyone can have extraction.
direct access to it. On the contrary, the difficult
part and the factor which ensures the security is the An HSM encrypts the encryption keys in order to
key being used. It is the most essential part since it prevent the extraction of the plaintext, which would
is also being used again in the decryption process. make the decryption process very easy.
In symmetric cryptography key length is 64-256
Furthermore, systems can use the encrypted keys
bits while for the asymmetric algorithms the keys even without having direct access to them [10].
used are 256- 4096 bits. Since the way to get the Even more, the keys can be protected in all the
key is from analyzing the plain-text and the cipher-
workflow phases, production, testing and
text, for algorithms such as AES, it takes a very implementation. But it is suggested that the same
long time to calculate the result. Thus, they are HSM should not be used across different computing
considered quite secure. environments. Using a stand-alone HSM helps to
On the other hand, the hacker who wants to reveal prevent key exposure so the affected processes are
the key in order to decrypt the information being more secure and protected.
interested for, will find a way to this data. Since
the key is being stored in the memory, due to
system flaws or the effort of the hacker, it can be
2.3.3. Improve server performance.
disclosed. The resistance against the attacks or the
Since the HSMs are stripped-down and standalone
hacker’s efforts to gain access to the key is called
devices/ processors, they that can perform
tamper resistance and is one of the most important
operations on their own. On the other hand, some
things to be considered while designing a
types of HSMs are equipped to act as web traffic
computer system [16].
accelerator. As a result, behaving in such a way,
offloading cryptographic operations and maintaining
Tamper resistance can be physical and logical.
load balance, they improve the overall server
Since HSMs are tamper-resistant on both these
performance.
sides, makes them a secure solution for data
protection. There are many tests and mechanisms
to detect either physical or logical tampering.
2.3.4. Ensure compliance with security
HSM vendors, together with their product offer the
regulations and audit processes related
tamper detection tools or functionalities too. Intel
to data being processed.
for example offers the possibility to enable the
Another important characteristic of the HSMs is of the company and its customers is being exposed.
that recently, with the development of technology As a result, even if the information is encrypted, with
and security policies, they are validated hardware the discovered key, the information is neither secure,
components too. This ensures security not protected any more. This can be avoided if the
compliance because, they meet specific industry keys are stored in a secure HSM, which will not only
standards. For example, as a typical computing protect them, but also ensure strong security.
device they provide logs that inform the host
about different processes such as the But why should a company use a Hardware Security
cryptographic operations they are programmed to Module, when its cost is something to be considered
perform, the time when these operations were and on the other hand web server’s architecture is
carried out, and the responsible party for supposed to offer some built-in functionalities that
authorizing the operations and processes. can also ensure protection?
The answer is very simple. Since HSMs are isolated
According to NIST, the Hardware Security devices, with limited usage and as a result limited
Modules as critical key management components attack vectors too, they provide significantly more
of the physical infrastructure that makes secure secure key storage than a traditional web server.
key storage and cryptographic operations possible Web servers are used to run many applications and
[18]. Globally, the HSMs are used for various functionalities and since the access is larger, the
usages in all industries, either of critical danger is on a larger scale too, because hackers have
importance, or less serious, yet important, such as a higher chance to exploit the vulnerabilities. That is
[18]: the reason why there are some industries where it is
better to use the HSMs instead of a server’s security
- Certificate authorities (public and private functionalities itself. As we stated before,
CAs), companies use these devices to use and store the
- Government and public sector keys they use to sign their PKI certificates, software
organizations, code and documents, to keep them more protected.
- Cloud service providers and vendors, Furthermore, public certificate authorities use these
- Banks, credit card companies and other devices to create, store and manage their sensitive
financial institutions, keypairs too.
- Blockchain platforms and entities,
- Automotive manufacturers, 3.1 HSM vs TPM
- Entertainment service providers, and Hardware security modules are isolated hardware
- IoT device developers and manufacturers. components and tamper- and intrusion-resistant
devices that are used by organizations and
3. How does a HSM work? companies to store and protect cryptographic keys
The way how HSMs work is similar to a vending [4]. Then, all the cryptographic functions are being
machine or an ATM, even though their purposes processed within the HSM’s secure environment,
are totally different. Both vending machines or ensuring security and data protection, since the
ATMs are isolated environments where things like private keys are hidden in the HSM where risk of
food, drinks or money are kept. So, in order to exposure is very low and sensitive data is also
take something from a machine, a person should immune from becoming corrupted or compromised.
at first put something in to take the desirable thing While all these operations are being processed, keys
out; for example, put some coins in to take the are available to be used by authorized users or
food out, or put the card and withdraw the money employees who can use the keys without needing
back from the ATM. In this entire cycle, the direct access to them [10]. Since their purpose is,
involved person never changes or interferes with not only to secure the keys but also to control the
something else inside the machine. The HSM is access, limiting the risk of exposure for the private
also an isolated computing environment that keys, using HSM, the system can execute
accepts user inputs and generates outputs, but the cryptographic functions and authentication without
user can neither see nor access the internal loading a copy of your private key into memory on
operations of the device that made the process go your web server, where it can be hosted. This is
like it was intended. HSM generates for example more secure even for the system, since web servers,
a signed certificate, but the user cannot see, access as it was stated above are more vulnerable to attacks
or modify the cryptographic key that made it and hackers. On the contrary, it is often thought that
possible. All in all, what is enough for the user is a Hardware Security Module is version of a TPM,
the encryption keys safety, because data can be which stands for Trusted Platform Module, because
encrypted, yet information is not secure if the keys first of all, both HSMs and TPMS are tamper-
are exposed. If it is supposed for example that an resistant hardware components and are globally used
authorized user exploits a system vulnerability by the organizations and companies for the
and leaks sensitive data to the public, the private cryptographic operations, in order to ensure security
key that is used to secure the financial information and protection. But they are not the same thing and
there is a huge difference between both of them. negative voltage applied transistor will generate
noise, in order to have a readable yet unrecognizable
A Trusted Platform Module is a hardware output of statistically random bits.
component that is incorporated into individual The tamper evidence module
devices and is specific for the “parent” device. This module will zeroize the key in two different
Thus, TPMs are computer chips that are physically scenarios: when the casing has been removed or when
attached to the device’s motherboards to secure an attacker is drilling into the case [20]. The
their PKI keys while keeping them separate from microcontroller will poll the alert signal from the
the device’s CPU memory. This feature is used to circuit and when an alert is sent it will also zeroize
ensure device integrity and provide an isolated the keystore.
environment for the cryptographic operations [19].
3.4. HMSs and Moore’s Law
A Hardware Security Module is on the other hand Moore’s Law is a techno-economic model that has
an external device that can handle operations and enabled the IT industry to double the performance
processes related to many devices and and functionality of digital electronics roughly every
applications across an organization’s network. 2 years within a fix cost, power and area [21].
These hardware devices neither are limited to Moore's Law as an observation that the number of
individual machines, nor incorporated into them transistors on a microprocessor chip doubles
and as a result they’re intended for use at-scale by approximately every two years, leads to the fact that
applications and servers across your organization. the increase of number of transistors, will eventually
increase the computing power of a machine, yet cost
3.3. Architecture and other components remain the same. As a result,
this change affects not only the hardware components
of the systems, but has also a great impact on the
security of cryptographical algorithms and processes.
As computing power increases, it is easier for
symmetric key algorithms such as DES (Data
Encryption Standard) and AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard) to be broken, even though there
was a time these algorithms were considered secure.
On the contrary, it is not always true that the only
component that affects the break of a cryptographic
algorithm is the increased computing power
influenced by Moore’s Law. The RSA (Rivest-
Shamir-Adleman) algorithm for example is still
Figure 1 HSM Block Diagram [20] considered secure. This happens because, its security
is based on the difficulty of factoring large prime
As it is seen in the diagram above, there are four numbers, which is neither affected by Moore's Law,
main parts in the HSM’s physical and logical nor determined by increased computing power.
architecture [20]: Therefore, considering HMSs, Moore’s Law result
The control/ encryption module also affects their performance, creating stronger and
The control module performs operations like more powerful computing devices over the time, but
encryption, decryption or key management. it is not the only factors that determines their security.
Moreover, the control module uses Cipher Block
Chaining (CBC) AES, a more complex version of 4. Types, options and common use
AES for the encryption and decryption processes. cases
The power supply As it was stated above, HSMs as dedicated and stand-
According to Papa et al [20], the main source of alone or plug-in processors, specifically designed for
power for the HSM is a USB power supply with an the protection of the secret keys, are used by
output of 5 volts that will allow to power all the enterprises to protect secret information such as
components of the device. The 3volt lithium transactions, identities or financial data applications,
battery, on the contrary is included for the tamper by securing cryptographic operations, helping in
evidence module when the device is not connected encryption, decryption, authentication and digital
by USB, to ensure the device’s safety. signing services processes.
Random Number Generator module
The Hardware Random Number Generator, as it
was stated above is essential for this encryption
processes of a HSM. The HRNG does not use a
seed, but transistor uses a noise source to generate
random bits. In this case [20], a reverse biased or
according to some specified cryptographic
4.1. HSMs in card payment systems principles, which emphasize how the HSM should
behave in specific scenarios and under specific
One of the most important uses of the HSMs is for conditions, to ensure the functionalities are applied
sure in card payment systems [4], where they [22]. That is the reason why most of them use
normally provide security via the cryptography vendor-neutral APIs to facilitate communication and
principles. Some of their common use cases in the cryptographic services, the HSM is used for.
payment industry are:
PIN generation, management and Payment Hardware Security Modules
validation As it was mentioned above, the second category of
PIN block translation during the network HSMs are the ones used in the payment industry. In
switching of ATM and POS transactions the same way as general purpose HSMs, they are
Card, user and cryptogram validation also isolated, temper-resistant and are used by
during payment transaction processing businesses to store and secure the keys, but they are
more specialized, since they are more custom-built
Payment credential issuing for payment
in order to ensure a better key management in the
cards and mobile applications
financial applications, transactions and card
Point-to-point encryption (P2PE) key
payment processes [2], that also have a special
management and secure data decryption
importance. As a result, they should be compliant to
Sharing keys securely with third parties to
different standards compared with the general-
facilitate secure communications.
purpose ones. Often the interfaces used for these
HSMs are also different, since they should meet the
specified security requirements.
Another important feature to be discussed is that
with the development of technology, there are a lot
of options to choose. Nowadays HSMs come in a 4.3. Quantum Computing and the
wide variety of options related to physical sizes future
and applications. Some of them can be small plug-
One of the most important developments of the last
in cards or USB drives, while others are large
decades is quantum computing. It combines
external devices that should be stored and kept in
information theory and quantum mechanics to create
secure locations. Hardware security modules can
a new era of computation and technology. According
be very expensive because the initial price does
to National Security Agency [23], quantum
not include other costs such as additional
computers can perform mathematical algorithms
hardware, support, and maintenance. But, in case a
exponentially faster than a classical computer. In
company or organization cannot afford to buy one
place of ordinary bits used by today’s computers,
or more HSMs, it can use the cloud-based option,
quantum computers use “qubits” that behave and
because some of the biggest HSM vendors like
interact according to the laws of quantum mechanics.
Amazon Web Services offer the cloud-based
This quantum physics-based behavior would enable a
HSM’s products and services. When using cloud
sufficiently large-scale quantum computer to perform
as such solution, a company can:
specific mathematical calculations that would be
Rent a physical HSM appliance that can infeasible for any conventional computer.
be stored in the company’s off-site data
center. Even though recently quantum mechanics are still
Pay for access to the functionalities of being discovered and their implementation in the real
an HSM vendor’s device or appliance. world’s applications is still low, laboratory
Pay for access to a virtual environment experiments have demonstrated quantum
within a vendor’s shared HSM. computations with several quantum bits performing
dozens of quantum operations and this will totally
So, when it comes to using one of the options, or change the future. For now, it does not provide
the other, there are advantages and disadvantages efficient solutions to all problems. Strong limitations
too. It is up to the company itself and what it needs on the power of quantum computation are known
for the work processes. since it has been proven that quantum computation
provides no significant advantage over classical
4.2. HSMs types computation and yet, quantum information processing
has changed forever the way in which quantum
There are two main types of HMSs: physics is understood [24].
General Purpose Hardware Security Modules
In the General purpose HSM’s group are included From the cryptography and HSMs perspective, the
the HSMs that all the companies and development of quantum computing will also affect
organizations globally use in the context of cyber the future, but the first thing to be considered is that,
security. These devices are typically built since quantum computing technology is not yet in
general use, what is discussed is like a expenses vs risk and it is up to the company itself to
projection for the future. Despite considering choose the best option. Considering how critical the
this, since the basic principle of quantum information is and if it is worth spending a certain
computing is creating a new kind of super- amount of money on security, there comes a point
performant computational environment, when a decision should be made.
different from the traditional and actual one, When it comes to the future, as time progresses, host
quantum computing will process huge amounts CPUs tend to get faster, thanks to Moore’s Law, even
of data. This will therefore lead to major though hardware stays the same, so the future trends
advances in cybersecurity, such as Quantum have to consider this part, since complex cryptographic
Key Distribution. As a result, quantum operations will need faster hardware devices too, the
cryptography and its applications in encryption same way as the faster processors are implemented.
and decryption processes, will create stronger Moreover, Quantum Computing and its future
algorithms and eventually, stronger and application in cryptographical algorithms and
unbreakable keys. On the contrary, application processes, will also affect the computational
of quantum techniques can also be seen as a performance and security of HSMs.
threat since it could be used to break
cryptographic keys currently in use because 1. References
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