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  5. AWS Certificate Manager vs AWS Key Management Service

AWS Certificate Manager vs AWS Key Management Service

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

AWS Key Management Service
AWS Key Management Service
Stacks231
Followers172
Votes14
AWS Certificate Manager
AWS Certificate Manager
Stacks102
Followers52
Votes0

AWS Certificate Manager vs AWS Key Management Service: What are the differences?

AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) manages SSL/TLS certificates for AWS services and internal resources, while AWS Key Management Service (KMS) simplifies encryption key creation and control for data protection. Let's explore the key differences between them.

  1. Certificate Management vs. Key Management: AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is a service that provides a managed solution for SSL/TLS certificates. It simplifies the process of obtaining, managing, and deploying certificates for use with AWS services and resources. ACM takes care of the entire certificate lifecycle, including the issuance, renewal, and revocation of certificates. AWS Key Management Service (KMS), on the other hand, is a service that provides secure and scalable key management solutions. It allows users to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt their data. KMS provides a centralized and secure way to manage keys, and it integrates with various AWS services, which enables seamless encryption and decryption of data.

  2. Certificate Provisioning and Integration: ACM is tightly integrated with other AWS services, making it easier to provision and deploy SSL/TLS certificates. It seamlessly integrates with services like Amazon CloudFront, Elastic Load Balancers (ELBs), and Amazon API Gateway, enabling automatic certificate provisioning and renewal. KMS, on the other hand, is more focused on key management and encryption. While KMS can be used to encrypt and decrypt various types of data, it does not provide the same level of integration with AWS services for certificate provisioning and management.

  3. Certificate Storage and Inventory: ACM manages the storage and inventory of SSL/TLS certificates. It securely stores the certificates and provides a central repository for managing and tracking the certificates issued and deployed within an AWS account. KMS, on the other hand, does not explicitly manage the storage and inventory of certificates. It focuses on managing encryption keys and providing secure key storage. It is up to the users to store and manage the certificates themselves.

  4. Ease of Use and Administration: ACM provides a simplified and user-friendly interface for requesting and managing certificates. It automates many of the complex tasks, such as certificate creation, validation, and renewal, making it easier for users to obtain and deploy SSL/TLS certificates. KMS, while also offering a user-friendly interface, focuses more on advanced key management capabilities. It provides fine-grained access control and auditing features to manage encryption keys securely.

  5. Cost Structure: ACM provides free SSL/TLS certificates for use with AWS services such as Amazon CloudFront and Elastic Load Balancers. However, it does not offer the same free certificate provision for use outside of AWS services. KMS, on the other hand, has a different cost structure. It charges users based on the number of requests made to perform cryptographic operations using KMS-managed keys.

  6. Scope and Use Cases: ACM is primarily used for managing SSL/TLS certificates within the AWS ecosystem. It is designed to simplify certificate provisioning and deployment for use with AWS services and resources. KMS, on the other hand, has a broader scope and can be used for encrypting and decrypting data across various AWS services, as well as for managing keys used in custom applications.

In summary, ACM focuses on managing SSL/TLS certificates and provides seamless integration with AWS services, while KMS is more focused on key management and encryption. Each service has its own specific use cases and strengths within the AWS ecosystem.

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Detailed Comparison

AWS Key Management Service
AWS Key Management Service
AWS Certificate Manager
AWS Certificate Manager

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data, and uses Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to protect the security of your keys. AWS Key Management Service is integrated with other AWS services including Amazon EBS, Amazon S3, and Amazon Redshift. AWS Key Management Service is also integrated with AWS CloudTrail to provide you with logs of all key usage to help meet your regulatory and compliance needs.

It removes the time-consuming manual process of purchasing, uploading, and renewing SSL/TLS certificates. With this service, you can quickly request a certificate, deploy it on AWS resources.

Centralized Key Management;Integrated with AWS services;Encryption for all your applications;Built-in Auditing;Fully Managed;Low-cost; Secure
Free public certificates for ACM-integrated services; Managed certificate renewal; Get certificates easily
Statistics
Stacks
231
Stacks
102
Followers
172
Followers
52
Votes
14
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 6
    Integrated with AWS CloudTrail
  • 4
    Backed by Amazon
  • 4
    KMS
  • 0
    Free
No community feedback yet

What are some alternatives to AWS Key Management Service, AWS Certificate Manager?

Let's Encrypt

Let's Encrypt

It is a free, automated, and open certificate authority brought to you by the non-profit Internet Security Research Group (ISRG).

Ellipticc — Cloud Storage Built for Privacy and Speed

Ellipticc — Cloud Storage Built for Privacy and Speed

Ellipticc — End-to-end encrypted, post-quantum secure cloud storage for privacy-first users and teams.

LocalKeys

LocalKeys

LocalKeys is a local-first secret manager for developers. It replaces vulnerable .env files with an AES-256-GCM encrypted vault that works completely offline and requires explicit approval before any process can access your secrets.

Azure Key Vault

Azure Key Vault

Secure key management is essential to protect data in the cloud. Use Azure Key Vault to encrypt keys and small secrets like passwords that use keys stored in hardware security modules (HSMs). For more assurance, import or generate keys in HSMs, and Microsoft processes your keys in FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated HSMs (hardware and firmware). With Key Vault, Microsoft doesn’t see or extract your keys. Monitor and audit your key use with Azure logging—pipe logs into Azure HDInsight or your security information and event management (SIEM) solution for more analysis and threat detection.

F5

F5

It powers apps from development through their entire life cycle, so our customers can deliver differentiated, high-performing, and secure digital experiences.

OneTrust

OneTrust

A platform to help organizations be more trusted, and operationalize privacy, security, data governance, and compliance programs.

IBM QRadar

IBM QRadar

It is an enterprise security information and event management (SIEM) product. It includes out-of-the-box analytics, correlation rules and dashboards to help customers address their most pressing security use cases — without requiring significant customization effort.

Imperva

Imperva

It provides complete cyber security by protecting what really matters most—your data and applications—whether on-premises or in the cloud.

Acra

Acra

It provides data protection in distributed applications, web and mobile apps with PostgreSQL, MySQL, KV backends through selective encryption.

AWS CloudHSM

AWS CloudHSM

The AWS CloudHSM service allows you to protect your encryption keys within HSMs designed and validated to government standards for secure key management. You can securely generate, store, and manage the cryptographic keys used for data encryption such that they are accessible only by you. AWS CloudHSM helps you comply with strict key management requirements without sacrificing application performance.

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