How Does PKI Work to Keep Your Business Safe?

Technological advancement, an increase in online transactions, and a fast-paced lifestyle provide new opportunities for hackers. As an online merchant, you must provide the highest level of payment security to reassure your clients that their personal information is secure. Your online business should prioritize providing the best level of security possible, including complete encryption and multiple levels of fraud prevention technologies.

Online transactions have a larger risk of financial fraud than in-store transactions. However, with the correct processes and technologies, it is possible to limit the danger of an attack and keep customer data safe to secure the business. This also helps you avoid chargebacks, penalties, and other non-essential costs and charges.

How to safeguard cardholder’s data?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) assists in the protection of cardholder data. The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) implements the standard by recommendations and requirements that aim to assure security across all organizations involved in cardholder information processing.

PCI DSS compliance ensures that baseline security criteria are met, giving clients and financial institutions peace of mind that the risk of fraud and cyber threats is low. For the scope of this discussion, we will look at the role of HSMs in protecting payment card data.

But what is a Hardware Security Module, exactly?

A hardware security module is a device that generates, stores, and manages cryptographic keys in a safe and secure manner. The keys are tamper-proof and secured from unauthorized access within the hardware module, protecting their integrity and confidentiality. The production of keys, their encryption and decryption, authentication, and signature processes are all functions of such a device. An HSM protects digital identities, critical infrastructure, and sensitive data by securing a variety of applications and transactions. FIPS 140-1 and 140-2 security standards are evaluated and certified for hardware security modules.

How does HSM work to secure payment card data?

When a transaction is initiated at the vendor POS terminal, the transaction request is sent through a secure tunnel to the bank transaction site using protocol. HSM protects and uses keys that were previously used to validate client card information stored on the bank's servers. The bank server consults HSM to verify the correctness of the encrypted data and either authorizes or denies the transaction.

The hardware security module (HSM) is a one-of-a-kind "trusted" network computer that handles cryptographic operations like key management, key exchange, and encryption.

Cryptography is used heavily by all financial institutions for processing transactions, including endpoint authentication, secure communication, and card / PIN verification.

The complexity of managing the lifecycle of encryption keys is one of the main issues that arise when using cryptography to safeguard sensitive data during storage and transmission. The security of a cryptographic system must reside in the protection of the key. This switch should be maintained as securely as possible because it is assumed that the potential attacker is aware of or has access to all other parameters of the cryptographic system. The cryptographic system as a whole is compromised if the key is compromised.

HSMs are responsible for generating and storing the countless cryptographic keys required throughout the payment's ecosystem in a secure manner. They also serve as dedicated cryptographic processing devices, using FIPS 140-2-compliant cryptographic algorithms. HSMs ensure that the cryptographic keys used by the servers to process cardholder data are genuine.

The cryptographic keys are generated inside the HSM, and the private and/or secret key(s) are only available unencrypted there. When a merchant initiates a transaction and it reaches the issuing bank, the HSM performs cryptographic checking and all validity confirmation.

HSMs are required for protecting ciphered end-to-end transactions, which must be secured. As the number of transactions increases, so does the potential of data compromise, necessitating the use of HSMs across the entire process.

The level of protection provided by HSMs is rated using the FIPS 140-2 standard in reference to PCI DSS (level 1 to 4). The maximum level of security is provided by HSMs that comply with FIPS 140-2 security level 3 and beyond. They are built with mechanisms that can detect physical compromise, causing all high-security data to be erased.

Transactions involving cryptography must take place in a secure environment. As a result, HSM hardware has been thoroughly tested and certified in special laboratories. It runs on a secure operating system. It has limited access via a network interface that is closely regulated by internal regulations. It actively protects and safeguards cryptographic information.

About Us:

We are a leading Indian OEM for CryptoBind® Hardware Security Module (HSM) introduces a high-performance hardware-based transaction security solution for cloud data centers, enterprise, government organizations & ecommerce applications. All our Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Cryptographic solutions are sold under Brand name CryptoBind®. With strong core competencies in Cryptography and PKI, we offer solutions built around Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), the framework that brings confidentiality, authentication, privacy, and non-repudiation.

Source: Medium