Venafi Adds Support For Symmetric Key Management To Next-Generation Systems Management For Encryption Platform
Provides More Comprehensive Approach to Managing Encryption Technologies to Help Eliminate System Failure, Comply with Regulations and Protect Data
San Francisco, CA - April 8, 2008 - Venafi, inventor of systems management for encryption, today announced that Venafi Encryption Manager V (also announced today) will provide symmetric key management, further extending the company's comprehensive approach to managing encryption technologies. As with the other encryption technologies Venafi manages, Encryption Manager V will perform for symmetric keys the four critical operations of systems management for encryption-discovery, lifecycle management, application configuration and reporting & monitoring. This will help organizations centralize and automate the deployment and ongoing management of encryption technologies that require regular maintenance to remain operational and secure.
The use of symmetric keys on single systems for data-at-rest encryption and shared between two or more systems to secure communications is on the rise, and regulations and security policies are forcing organizations to institute rigorous security measures and management procedures for those keys. However, the manual procedures required to manage symmetric keys across various systems and applications make it difficult to implement and enforce these policies and procedures effectively-especially on legacy systems and applications where minimal management capabilities exist. This systems management for encryption approach automates key management activities including key generation, distribution, archiving, recovery, rotation, and other operations, closely aligning them with corporate policies, IT governance, application management, etc.
"Symmetric keys play a critical role in encryption strategies, architectures and deployment, but present a major management challenge because of the critical need to assure security, operational soundness and compliance," said Paul Turner, vice president of product and customer solutions. "Extending our existing systems management functions to symmetric keys was a natural step since symmetric and asymmetric systems share many similarities in their encryption key lifecycles, management principals and security considerations. This extension enables our customers to implement systems management for encryption even more broadly across their enterprise environments."
What is Systems Management for Encryption?
Systems Management for Encryption is a systems management approach to encryption key and certificate management. It enables organizations to establish and enforce organizational policies, reduce operational risk, increase security and ensure regulatory compliance. Venafi Encryption Manager V will automate a number of key management functions for symmetric keys, including the following:
- + Discovery: Automatically discover all keys within an organization's infrastructure, and bring them under management.
- + Lifecycle Management: Based on administrator-defined policies, keys are generated, distributed, synchronized, backed up, recovered, archived, renewed and rotated. This often tedious, tactical work can be scheduled, specific workflow processes can be defined, and the entire process can be completely automated. Key lifecycle management for symmetric keys can take place:
- on a single computing system
- across multiple systems, distributing the same key(s) to one or more systems that need those keys for communications or other purposes
- + Application Configuration: Automates the deployment of certificates and keys, and configures applications to use them according to administrator-defined policies. Venafi directly integrates with a large number of applications, systems, and devices for certificate-based encryption today and will be providing that same broad integration for symmetric key-based systems-both for older legacy systems that have no concept of key management as well as newer systems with more advanced capabilities.
- + Reporting & Monitoring: Provides comprehensive and actionable metrics detailing operational, security and regulatory data to measure and evaluate the state of encryption across the enterprise for appropriate personnel and decision makers.
About Venafi
Venafi provides systems management for encryption by enabling organizations to deploy, manage and control encryption technologies across their diverse operating systems and infrastructure environments - from the desktop to the datacenter. Venafi products provide automated discovery of encryption, application encryption configuration, key and certificate lifecycle management and reporting. The tangible business value for Venafi customers includes significantly reduced system failure due to under-managed encryption, increased operational efficiency, reduced operating costs, and improved compliance and data security. Venafi customers consist of some of the world's largest financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, restaurant, transportation and online and interactive services companies. For more information, go to www.venafi.com.