Cloud Key Management

Automatically provision and assign customer-managed encryption keys with Autokey.

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Manage encryption keys on Google Cloud.

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Deliver scalable, centralized, fast cloud key management
Help satisfy compliance, privacy, and security needs
Apply hardware security modules (HSMs) effortlessly to your most sensitive data
Use an external KMS to protect your data in Google Cloud and separate the data from the key
Approve or deny any request for your encryption keys based on clear and precise justifications

Stack of 3 servers each with a key flow through one key and into Google Cloud Key Managemnet Service icon

VIDEO

Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK)

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Benefits

Scale your security globally

Scale your application to Google’s global footprint while letting Google worry about the challenges of key management, including managing redundancy, latency, and data residency.

Help achieve your compliance requirements

Easily encrypt your data in the cloud using software-backed encryption keys, FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated HSMs, customer-provided keys or an External Key Manager.

Leverage from integration with Google Cloud products

Use customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) to control the encryption of data across Google Cloud products while benefiting from additional security features, such as Google Cloud IAM and audit logs.

Key features

Core features

Centrally manage encryption keys

A cloud-hosted key management service that lets you manage symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic keys for your cloud services the same way you do on-premises. You can generate, use, rotate, and destroy AES256, RSA 2048, RSA 3072, RSA 4096, EC P256, and EC P384 cryptographic keys.

Deliver hardware key security with HSM

Host encryption keys and perform cryptographic operations in FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated HSMs. With this fully managed service, you can protect your most sensitive workloads without the need to worry about the operational overhead of managing an HSM cluster.

Provide support for external keys with EKM

Encrypt data in integrated Google services with encryption keys that are stored and managed in a third-party key management system that’s deployed outside Google’s infrastructure. External Key Manager allows you to maintain separation between your data at rest and your encryption keys while still leveraging the power of cloud for compute and analytics.

Be the ultimate arbiter of access to your data

Key Access Justifications works with Cloud EKM to greatly advance the control you have over your data. It’s the only product that gives you visibility into every request for an encryption key, a justification for that request, and a mechanism to approve or deny decryption in the context of that request. These controls are covered by Google’s integrity commitments.

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Documentation

Google Cloud Basics

Cloud Key Management Service documentation

Learn how to create, import, and manage cryptographic keys and perform cryptographic operations in a single centralized cloud service.

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Google Cloud Basics

Cloud HSM documentation

Get an overview of Cloud HSM and learn how to create and use HSM-protected encryption keys in Cloud Key Management Service.

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Google Cloud Basics

Cloud External Key Manager documentation

Find an overview of Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM).

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Whitepaper

Cloud Key Management Service deep dive

Learn more about the inner workings of the Cloud KMS platform and how it helps you protect the keys and other sensitive data that you store in Google Cloud.

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Best Practice

Using customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) with GKE

Learn how to use customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

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Google Cloud Basics

Using customer-managed encryption keys with Cloud SQL

The CMEK feature lets you use your own cryptographic keys for data at rest in Cloud SQL, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server.

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Google Cloud Basics

Using customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) with Dataproc

See how to use CMEK to encrypt data on the PDs associated with the VMs in your Dataproc cluster and/or the cluster metadata.

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Google Cloud Basics

Using customer-managed encryption keys with Data Fusion

Learn how customer-managed encryption keys provide user control over the data written by Cloud Data Fusion pipelines.

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Use cases

Use case

Support regulatory compliance

Cloud KMS, together with Cloud HSM and Cloud EKM, supports a wide range of compliance mandates that call for specific key management procedures and technologies. It does so in a scalable, cloud-native way, without undermining the agility of the cloud implementation. Various mandates call for hardware encryption (HSM), keys being separated from data (EKM), or keys being handled securely (KMS overall). Key management is compliant with FIPS 140-2.

Use case

Manage encryption keys via secure hardware

Customers who are subject to compliance regulations may be required to store their keys and perform crypto operations in a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated device. By allowing customers to store their keys in a FIPS validated HSM, they are able to meet their regulator’s demand and maintain compliance in the cloud. This is also critical for customers seeking a level of assurance that the cloud provider cannot see or export their key material.

Use case

Manage encryption keys outside the cloud

Customers subject to regulatory or regional security requirements need to adopt cloud computing while retaining the encryption keys in their possession. External Key Manager allows them to maintain separation between data at rest and encryption keys while still leveraging the power of cloud for compute and analytics. This is accomplished with full visibility into who has access to the keys, when they have been used, and where they are located.

EKM reference architecture: flow from Google Cloud users to BigQuery and Compute Engine and 3 all into Key Management tools Key Management Service then External Key Manager Service, to a third-party key manager: External Key Manager.

Use case

Key Access Justifications and EKM data flow

Key Access Justifications gives Google Cloud customers visibility into every request for an encryption key, a justification for that request, and a mechanism to approve or deny decryption in the context of that request. The use cases focus on both enforcement and visibility for data access.

KAJ diagram: On left, gray rectangle reads Access following decryption by External Key Manager and four stacked boxes: Customer Access, Administrative Access, Binary Access, and Customer Data (encrypted). The first three flow through Example Justifications column, the 3 flows labeled (1) CUSTOMER_INITIATED_ACCESS, (2) one of CUSTOMER_INITIATED_SUPPORT, GOOGLE_INITIATED_SERVICE, THIRD_PARTY_DATA_REQUEST, GOOGLE_INITIATED_REVIEW and (3) GOOGLE_INITIATED_SYSTEM_OPERATION. These 3 flow into Customer’s External Key Manager box in a Customer column.

Use case

Ubiquitous data encryption

Seamlessly encrypt data as it is sent to the cloud, using your external key management solution, in a way that only a confidential VM service can decrypt and compute on it.

Flow from left to right of access following decryption by External Key Manager. Customer access flows to customer’s external key manager. Administrative access, either customer initiated support, Google initiated service, third-party data request, or Google initiated review, flows to customer’s EKM. Binary access–Google initiated system operation–flows to customer’s EKM. Encrypted customer data remains unaccessed.

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All features

Symmetric and asymmetric key support	Cloud KMS allows you to create, use, rotate, automatically rotate, and destroy AES256 symmetric and RSA 2048, RSA 3072, RSA 4096, EC P256, and EC P384 asymmetric cryptographic keys. With HSM, encrypt, decrypt, and sign with AES-256 symmetric and RSA 2048, RSA 3072, RSA 4096, EC P256, and EC P384 asymmetric cryptographic keys.
Create external keys with EKM	Generate your external key using one of the following external key managers: Equinix, Fortanix, Ionic, Thales, and Unbound. Once you have linked your external key with Cloud KMS, you can use it to protect data at rest in BigQuery and Compute Engine.
Delay for key destruction	Cloud KMS has a built-in 24-hour delay for key material destruction, to prevent accidental or malicious data loss.
Encrypt and decrypt via API	Cloud KMS is a REST API that can use a key to encrypt, decrypt, or sign data, such as secrets for storage.
High global availability	Cloud KMS is available in several global locations and across multi-regions, allowing you to place your service where you want for low latency and high availability.
Automated and at-will key rotation	Cloud KMS allows you to set a rotation schedule for symmetric keys to automatically generate a new key version at a fixed time interval. Multiple versions of a symmetric key can be active at any time for decryption, with only one primary key version used for encrypting new data. With EKM, create an externally managed key directly from the Cloud KSM console.
Statement attestation with HSM	With Cloud HSM, verify that a key was created in the HSM with attestation tokens generated for key creation operations.
Integration with GKE	Encrypt Kubernetes secrets at the application-layer in GKE with keys you manage in Cloud KMS. In addition, you can store API keys, passwords, certificates, and other sensitive data with the Secret Manager storage system.
Maintain key-data separation	With EKM, maintain separation between your data at rest and your encryption keys while still leveraging the power of cloud for compute and analytics.
Key data residency	If using Cloud KMS, your cryptographic keys will be stored in the region where you deploy the resource. You also have the option of storing those keys inside a physical Hardware Security Module located in the region you choose with Cloud HSM.
Key import	You may be using existing cryptographic keys that were created on your premises or in an external key management system. You can import them into Cloud HSM keys or import software keys into Cloud KMS.
Justified access	Get a clear reason for every decryption request that will cause your data to change state from at-rest to in-use with Key Access Justifications.
Automated policy	Key Access Justifications lets you set automated policies that approve or deny access to keys based on specific justifications. Let your external key manager, provided by Google Cloud technology partners, take care of the rest.
Integrity commitment	Controls provided by Key Access Justifications are covered by Google’s integrity commitments, so that you know they can be trusted.

Pricing

Cloud Key Management Service charges for usage and varies based on the following products: Cloud Key Management Service, Cloud External Key Manager, and Cloud HSM.

Product	Price (US$)
Cloud KMS: active key versions	$0.06 per month
Cloud KMS: key use operations (Encrypt/Decrypt)	$0.03 per 10,000 operations
Cloud KMS: key admin operations	free
Cloud HSM: key versions (AES256, RSA2048)	$1.00 per month
Cloud HSM: key versions (RSA 3072, RSA 4096)	0–2,000 key versions: $2.50 per month 2,001+ key versions: $1.00 per month
Cloud HSM: key versions (EC P256, EC P384)	0–2,000 key versions: $2.50 per month 2,001+ key versions: $1.00 per month
Cloud EKM: key versions	$3.00 per month
Cloud EKM: key use operations	$0.03 per 10,000 operations