Unlocking Full Data Sovereignty through BYOK and HYOK

Data Sovereignty in cloud environments is crucial for the security and disclosure of data as well as for legal and compliance reasons. 
In this blog post we are going to discuss how Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) and Hold Your Own Key (HYOK) can act as enabler for full data sovereignty – even throughout heterogenous cloud setups.

Data Sovereignty – A Brief Overview About the Basics

Why is Data Sovereignty so important?

It might feel as the buzzword Data Sovereignty is all of a sudden everywhere and is important out of the blue. If it wasn’t such a big thing before, is it then really that important?
Absolutely! 

Data that is created within a nation’s borders is governed by that nation’s laws and regulatory frameworks. This also implies that this country has the authority over how the data is accessed, stored, and used. When it comes to the use of both public and private Cloud infrastructures, this introduces complexity for organizations because data may reside in servers outside the country of data origin or the organizations’ location. 

Today’s enterprise is becoming an endpoint of a global network of cloud computing environments. In order to benefit from the advantages that Cloud offers while staying fully aligned with local laws and compliance requirements, organizations must implement the right data protection measures to effectively protect their sensitive information in the cloud from external access while keeping it accessible for their authorized users back within the enterprise or deployed virtually. 

How to Ensure Data Sovereignty for Organizations?

The basic answer is: Encryption 

Reliable encryption based on secure and high-quality cryptographic keys always provides the basis for trust in digital environments. 

Applied to Cloud environments, data security in general is securely implemented when data is encrypted before it is uploaded to the Cloud.

But ‘basic’ is not enough to ensure high levels of reliable protection. And data is not fully secure if the keys are not secured. As your home is not secure if you are locking your front door but leaving the key under the doormat, your cloud-stored data is also not securely protected against unauthorized access if you do encrypt it but store the keys right next to it and not protecting them properly.

The mnemotechnic verse hence is:

Data Encryption is good. Data Encryption and Key Protection is secure

By storing the keys used to encrypt your cloud-stored data, outside of the cloud either in a key manager on-premises or a 3rd party managed service, your data and keys are fully protected. And with that full protection, you have automatically achieved full Data Sovereignty, including security and compliance and disclosure prevention. Without your keys, cloud providers do not have access to and cannot disclose your data even for lawful requests.

The Role of BYOK and HYOK for Data Sovereignty

Before we dive into the importance of BYOK and HYOK in the context of Data Sovereignty, let us first define the terms. 

BYOK - Bring Your Own Key 

The concept of BYOK is characterized by generation, ownership, and management of encryption keys by an organization. The keys are generated in accordance with your organization’s policies and utilized by the Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to encrypt and decrypt cloud data rather than completely by the cloud native key management service. This provides a higher level of control over data security for organizations, as they can generate, revoke and rotate keys at their discretion. 

HYOK - Hold Your Own Key

The concept of HYOK takes data security a step further by allowing organizations to also store their encryption keys within their own infrastructure. This means the CSP never has access to the keys, ensuring that only the organization can decrypt the data. This makes HYOK especially beneficial for highly sensitive or regulated data where maximum control, security and sovereignty is required.

→  If you want to learn more about BYOK, HYOK, or the role of Key Management in Cloud environments, watch our webinar here.

Key Managements’ Crucial Role for Secure BYOK and HYOK Utilization

Referring to the mnemotechnic verse “Data Encryption is good. Data Encryption and Key Protection is secure” introduced earlier in this blog post, Key Management Systems (KMS) are a crucial element of every organizations’ digital infrastructure and “the must have” to enable assured BYOK / HYOK use cases – and with that – ensure full Data Sovereignty.

A Key Management System serves as the central access and control panel for all encryption keys, independent of their origin (on-premises -, digital-, cloud, - hybrid environments) and encryption application (data bases, files, folders, virtual machines, systems, etc.). 

Through centralized management, key protection in today’s extremely complex & hybrid enterprise computing environments can be easy and secure. Especially since access rights to the keys can also be centrally managed through a capable KMS and tailored policies. This means that access can be granted and revoked with the “tip of a finger” through the central control pane. 
That way, KMS forms the basis for secure BYOK/HYOK utilization by providing secure generation and protection of the encryption keys. 

For BYOK scenarios, the key – if compromised – can be revoked instantly or – to increase the level of protection – be exchanged regularly to decrease the risk of unauthorized access to data stored in the cloud. 

For HYOK uses, the KMS ensures that the key is not only strictly separated from the cloud environment but also provides a legal layer of protection from disclosure while preventing unauthorized access in the organizations’ own infrastructure.

Full Data Sovereignty Based on Key Management Systems

Data sovereignty has become increasingly important due to cloud computing and global data flows, where data can be stored and processed across multiple countries.

By utilizing the cryptographic protection and logical management capabilities of a proper KMS, you can easily enable full Data Sovereignty based on secure key protection and central key control. This also forms the basis for reliable fulfillment of regional, local and global jurisdictions, such as accommodating the demand for local data control within a nation’s border.
 

Utimaco’s Solutions Enabling Data Sovereignty 

As a leading cybersecurity solution provider, Utimaco serves you with the right tools to enable your Data Sovereignty strategy.
Enterprise Secure Key Manager, the most interoperable and integrated KMS in the market, provides a single pane of glass for all cryptographic keys. 

Available as hardware and virtual appliance.

Learn more about Enterprise Secure Key Manager here and get access to the 60-day free trial version here.

With Enterprise Key Manager as a Service, we are providing a fully managed, cloud-deployed service combining the capabilities of a KMS with those of a General Purpose Hardware Security Module.

Learn more about Enterprise Key Manager as a Service here and request a free 30-day trial access here.

About the Author

Silvia Clauss

Head of Product Marketing, Utimaco