Having the right blend of encryption, key storage, and authentication services is critical for protecting your cloud-hosted data.

Fortunately, with the breadth of data security services IBM Cloud offers, you have the tools at your disposal you’ll need to cover your bases. Now the question becomes — which service blend is right for my solution?

To make answering this question easier, we’ve put together this blog to give you a consolidated view of the portfolio to reference when making this critical decision. The following sections outline the services and software that IBM Cloud offers for data protection, a mapping to key use cases, and an overview of the services and their key attributes.

Key use cases 

Service overviews

As you plan your data protection strategy, some differences between services to consider include the level of data isolation that your workload requires. For a higher level of security and control, your business might benefit from the data isolation that a single-tenant offering provides, such as Secrets Manager or Hyper Protect Crypto Services. You might also decide that the lower costs and scalability benefits of a multi-tenant service, such as Key Protect and Certificate Manager, are better suited to your needs. 

Need help getting started? Check out the following service overviews to help you learn more about each service.

IBM Cloud Secrets Manager 

Overview: Service where users can manage various types of IBM Cloud secrets in a dedicated, managed vault. 

Key attributes:

• Handles multiple secret types: 
  • IBM Cloud API keys
  • User credentials 
  • Arbitrary text 
• Single-tenant data plane 
• Ability to store, generate, rotate, retrieve, revoke, and lease secrets 
• Auditing and logging of secret access for compliance 

Get started with Secrets Manager and view the docs.

IBM Key Protect 

Overview: A key management service built on top of a shared (multi-tenant) cloud hardware security module (HSM).

Key attributes:

• FIPS 140-2 Level 3-certified hardware
• Encryption key management with bring-your-own-key (BYOK) capability
• Auditing and logging of key access for compliance 

Get started with Key Protect and view the docs.

IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services 

Overview: A fully managed, dedicated key management and cloud hardware security module (HSM) service (i.e., single-tenant key management service with key-vaulting provided by dedicated, customer-controlled, FIPS 140-2 Level 4 certified HSMs).

Key attributes:

• FIPS 140-2 Level 4-certified hardware
• Encryption key management with keep-your-own-key (KYOK) capability 
• Sign certificates with a private key that never leaves your HSM’s boundary
• Provide highly secure encryption services for application, databases, and TLS offloading 
• Auditing and logging of key access for compliance 

Get started with Hyper Protect Crypto Services and view the docs.

IBM Cloud Certificate Manager

Overview: Service where users can manage the lifecycle of SSL/TLS certificates. Automates provisioning with Let’s Encrypt. 

Key attributes:

• SSL/TLS certificates 
• Multi-tenant data plane
• Ability to store, order, and renew certificates 
  • Only Let’s Encrypt provisioning 
  • Can store any type of certificate 

Get started with Certificate Manager and view the docs.