2015-04-11 02:39:17 +00:00
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---
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layout: "intro"
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page_title: "Vault vs. HSMs"
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sidebar_current: "vs-other-hsm"
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description: |-
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Comparison between Vault and HSM systems.
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---
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# Vault vs. HSMs
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2016-12-28 16:23:50 +00:00
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A [hardware security module
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(HSM)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_security_module) is a hardware
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device that is meant to secure various secrets using protections against access
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and tampering at both the software and hardware layers.
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The primary issue with HSMs is that they are expensive and not very cloud
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friendly. Amazon provides CloudHSM, but the minimum price point to even begin
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using CloudHSM is in the thousands of US dollars.
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Once an HSM is up and running, configuring it is generally very tedious, and
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the API to request secrets is also difficult to use. Example: CloudHSM requires
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SSH and setting up various keypairs manually. It is difficult to automate. APIs
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tend to require the use of specific C libraries (e.g. PKCS#11) or
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vendor-specific libraries.
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However, although configuring and running an HSM can be a challenge, they come
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with a significant advantage in that they conform to government-mandated
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compliance requirements (e.g. FIPS 140), which often require specific hardware
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protections and security models in addition to software.
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Vault doesn't replace an HSM. Instead, they can be complimentary; a compliant
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HSM can protect Vault's master key to help Vault comply with regulatory
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requirements, and Vault can provide easy client APIs for tasks such as
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encryption and decryption.
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Vault can also do many things that HSMs cannot currently do, such as generating
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_dynamic secrets_. Instead of storing AWS access keys directly within Vault,
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Vault can generate access keys according to a specific policy on the fly. Vault
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has the potential of doing this for any system through its mountable secret
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backend system.
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For many companies' security requirements, Vault alone is enough. For companies
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that can afford an HSM or with specific regulatory requirements, it can be used
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with Vault to get the best of both worlds.
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