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Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)

Enterprise-grade hardware cryptography

hardware security modules (HSMs)

Hardware Security Module (HSM) Solutions

payment hsm

Payment HSM

Futurex's Payment HSMs secure financial transactions, support compliance with PCI DSS, and enhance trust with robust encryption and key management for payment systems.

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general purpose hsm

General Purpose HSM

Futurex's General Purpose HSMs offer versatile encryption, secure key management, and compliance with industry standards, protecting a wide range of applications and sensitive data.

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cloud hsm

Cloud HSM

Futurex's Cloud HSMs provide scalable, secure encryption solutions for any cryptographic need, backed by our award-winning hardware HSMs.

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crypto orchestration and management

Crypto Orchestration and Management

Futurex's Crypto Orchestration and Management solutions enable robust local and remote management of your cryptographic operations.

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Futurex HSMs Set the Standard for Cryptographic Power

Futurex delivers market-leading hardware security modules to protect your most sensitive data. They are FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and PCI HSM validated. Futurex HSMs handle both payment and general purpose encryption, as well as key lifecycle management. They are deployed on-premises, through the global VirtuCrypt cloud service, or as a hybrid model. Futurex HSM solutions support vendor-neutral APIs for unprecedented flexibility and easy integration.

What is a Hardware Security Module?

A hardware security module (HSM) is a specialized physical device designed for executing cryptographic operations, including encrypting data and managing encryption keys, with unparalleled security and reliability. HSMs employ robust hardware-based security mechanisms to protect against cyber threats, making them essential components in sectors prioritizing data confidentiality and integrity, such as finance, healthcare, and government institutions.

Why Choose Futurex HSMs?

Futurex hardware security module solutions protect your most sensitive data with strong encryption, tamper resistance, and logical security. Futurex HSMs are FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and PCI HSM-validated. Our HSMs support vendor-neutral APIs, including the RESTful web API. When combined with the VirtuCrypt cloud, they gain virtually unlimited scalability. That’s why Futurex has led innovation among HSM providers for 40 years.

Use Cases

  • Robust scripting and automation architecture for managing enterprise deployments
  • Deploy on-premises or in the cloud for scalable and versatile enterprise solutions
  • Perform both payment and general-purpose processing on a single HSM platform
  • Powerful HSM virtualization capabilities for multi-application ecosystems

 

HSMs for Secure Cryptographic Functions

cryptohub payment hsm

CryptoHub

Enterprise Cryptography On-demand

CryptoHub stands out as the most powerful and versatile cryptographic platform in the industry. Built on Futurex's BAM (Base Architecture Model), our intelligent common code base powers the industry’s fastest development and innovation capabilities. Adaptability for every cryptographic use case that ensures interoperability across your entire cryptographic estate.

general purpose hsm

Vectera Plus General-purpose HSM


The Vectera Plus is a versatile general-purpose HSM. Organizations running applications that need strong encryption and key management rely on the Vectera to meet regulatory requirements and secure their most sensitive data.

Perfect for:

  • General-purpose data protection, including database encryption and privileged access management
  • PKI environments, to generate and protect root and Certificate Authority (CA) keys
  • Achieving compliance with data protection standards
  • Increasing your organization’s security posture, no matter the industry or size

Core features:

  • Perform payment and general purpose functions simultaneously
  • Supports all common cryptographic interfaces: PKCS #11, JCA/JCE, Open SSL, etc.
  • Wide-ranging cryptographic functionality and algorithm support
  • Secure code environment (SCE) for executing custom apps within cryptographic boundary
payment hsms

Excrypt Plus Payment HSM


A high-performance payment HSM to safeguard card and mobile issuing and payment acquiring for banks, retailers, transaction processors, fintechs, payment gateways, and other payment service providers of any size.

Perfect for:

  • Payment transaction processing
  • Payment key management
  • Online and mobile PIN issuance
  • P2PE and tokenization
  • EMV issuance and validation
  • General-purpose data encryption

Core features

  • Process up to 5,000 transactions per second
  • Universal compatibility with all major payment host applications
  • User-friendly deployment and operation
  • Supports all common payment industry APIs, including RESTful web API
fastest payment hsm

Excrypt SSP Enterprise v.2 Enterprise-grade payment HSM



The world’s fastest enterprise payment HSM that delivers transaction processing speeds of up to 50,000 TPS, all in a 1U rack space. A powerful HSM capable of virtually limitless cryptographic functionality.

Perfect for:

  • EMV data preparation and processing
  • P2PE and tokenization for cardholder data protection
  • PIN issuance and validation
  • 3D Secure
  • Mobile Payments (Host Card Emulation)
  • General-purpose data encryption

Core features

  • Process up to 50,000 transactions per second
  • HSM virtualization for logically independent transaction processing environments
  • Supports all common payment industry APIs, including RESTful web API
  • High-speed RSA functions which are becoming increasingly important in the digital payments world

Futurex HSM Advantage for Enhanced Security Protection

Our highly scalable solutions built on Futurex's Base Architecture Model (BAM), a common code base that ensures interoperability in a world of siloed products. Through extensive R&D and custom development projects with global Tier 1 organizations, our continuously expanding and innovative products and services exemplify our dedication to meeting the growing business needs of our international customers and partners.

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24/7/365 Xceptional Support

For each of our customers, Futurex Xceptional Support is a unique experience of personal interaction with our Solutions Architects. Whatever your questions or issues, we go above and beyond to provide you with the best-in-class Xceptional Support you expect and deserve whenever and wherever you are. We guarantee it.

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Tireless dedication to perfection

For over 40+ years, Futurex has been a trusted HSM provider of enterprise-class data security solutions. More than 15,000 organizations worldwide have used our innovative hardware security modules, key management servers, and cloud HSM solutions to address mission-critical data encryption and key management needs.

Understanding HSMs for Robust Data Security

Deploying an HSM

Futurex HSMs can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model. The scalability, resilience, and reduced cost of cloud environments and hybrid architectures are huge benefits. Some organizations opt for public cloud service providers like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The cloud-native capabilities of Futurex HSMs help to simplify the process of connecting to applications running in public clouds.  

General purpose vs. payment HSMs

In recent years, managing hardware security modules – and cryptographic infrastructure in general – has gotten easier thanks to several important innovations. Secure encryption keys can be managed remotely, different applications can be consolidated into HSMs, and tricky integrations can be made easier with support for vendor-neutral APIs. Futurex has led this innovation by being the first in the industry by launching a global cloud service for HSMs, developing custom vendor-neutral APIs for payment processing, and building HSMs capable of both general purpose and payments cryptographic operations simultaneously.

Increasing ROI with HSM virtualization

If your organization runs multiple applications in a single ecosystem, HSM virtualization is a great way to increase the ROI of your data security and HSM infrastructure. A multitenancy approach is ideal for an organization that wants to reduce its HSM footprint while continuing to scale with growing application integration needs.

Innovation for hardware security modules

In recent years, managing hardware security modules – and cryptographic infrastructure in general – has gotten easier thanks to several important innovations. Secure encryption keys can be managed remotely, different applications can be consolidated into HSMs, and tricky integrations can be made easier with support for vendor-neutral APIs. Futurex has led this innovation by being the first in the industry by launching a global cloud service for HSMs, developing custom vendor-neutral APIs for payment processing, and building HSMs capable of both general purpose and payments cryptographic operations simultaneously.

Managing HSMs

In legacy payment HSM environments, large organizations have become accustomed to managing HSMs on a one-to-one basis. Managing access controls, firmware updates, cryptographic keys, and configuration settings in this manner is incredibly time consuming, error-prone, and costly. New technology, however, has made “single pane of glass” infrastructure management possible, even with large groups of physical and virtual HSMs. Futurex’s Guardian Series 3 provides centralized configuration, monitoring, alerting, and orchestration for your cryptographic system, while the Excrypt Touch offers full remote management and key loading. 

Go with a reliable HSM vendor

It’s no secret that supply chain issues have become commonplace in the manufacture of physical devices. With over 40+ years in business, Futurex has built relationships that give us enviable supply chain confidence. Even more so, all Futurex HSMs are manufactured in the US with zero third-party reliance. Adding further support, our team of certified Solutions Architects are there to ensure you have the resources to protect your critical infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Hardware Security Module (HSM)?

HSM stands for hardware security module. HSMs are cryptographic devices that serve as physically secure processing environments. Within these physically secure environments, you are able to perform cryptographic operations with the lowest risk possible for cyberattacks or data breaches. The types of cryptographic operations an HSM can perform are generally determined by the manufacturer. Operations can range from encrypting data to managing the overall health of your cryptographic infrastructure. If there are any cryptographic operations you need to perform, an HSM is the most secure way to do it.

What is the purpose of Hardware Security Modules?

Simply put, HSMs are the cornerstone of enterprise data security. The tamper resistance of hardware security modules helps keep IT infrastructure safe from cyberattacks and breaches, while mitigating the tremendous costs those disasters could potentially entail for business organizations.

What do Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) do?

A hardware security module (HSM) performs encryption. But encryption is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of capability. In reality, HSMs are capable of performing nearly any cryptographic operation an organization would ever need. Some common functions that HSMs do include:

  • Encrypt data for payments, applications, databases, etc.
  • Manage infrastructure with load balancing, monitoring, alerting, and device clustering
  • Create and manage encryption keys for hundreds of applications
  • Generate digital signatures to validate messages, software, and financial transactions
  • Sign digital certificates to authenticate devices, users, websites, and more
  • Among many other practical uses

How are HSMs used?

In terms of encryption uses, HSMs encompass two main categories: payments and general-purpose. HSMs are used to process payment transaction data and manage the encryption keys involved. They can also be used to issue card and mobile EMV credentials.

Hardware security modules also specialize in key management. That is to say, logically managing the encryption keys used to encrypt and decrypt data. This process involves the use of algorithms to create encryption keys, distribute those keys to different applications, and then set policies that determine when keys should be retired from use, and ultimately deleted. Additionally, users can also configure HSMs to generate asymmetric key pairs. This means that a public key is used to encrypt data and a private key is used to decrypt it. Users can also secure the private key and establish a certificate authority (CA) in the process.

Put plainly, hardware security modules are used to establish complete and total network security for organizations of all sizes.

Does my organization need to use an HSM?

The primary users of HSMs are organizations that need to protect sensitive data. This could include a software developer that wants to encrypt files and applications, a bank that needs to secure mobile payments, or a government organization that must protect personally identifiable information (PII) for private citizens. So, if your organization needs to protect sensitive data, then it may be a good idea to consider using a hardware security module.

What is a Cloud HSM?

Many organizations deploy physical hardware security modules on-premises, but it is becoming more common to deploy HSMs through a cloud service. Cloud HSMs are based on their physical counterparts, and offer the same levels of functionality and compliance. Cloud HSMs are often deployed and managed from a single web interface, which helps reduce the costs associated with deploying HSMs. They also help streamline cryptographic infrastructure overall. Cloud HSMs are ideal for large enterprise needing to streamline and centralize infrastructure, as well as small-to-medium organizations that want to deploy cryptography for the first time.

What Makes Futurex the Best HSM Vendor?

For over 40 years, Futurex has been a trusted provider of hardened, enterprise data security solutions for more than 15,000 organizations worldwide. Customers choose Futurex for our best-in-class technology solutions and our exceptional customer support.

Futurex hardware security modules protect your organization’s most sensitive data with strong encryption, tamper resistance, and logical security. All Futurex HSMs are FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and PCI HSM-validated, support vendor-neutral APIs, and include the RESTful web API. This is why Futurex has led innovation among HSM providers for 40+ years.

Do you offer a free demo of your HSMs?

Yes, absolutely. You can request a free demo for yourself or your organization here.

Featured Resources

"Whether exploring a migration from a legacy HSM provider, deploying a hybrid environment paired with existing on-premises Futurex HSMs, or fully transitioning to the cloud, cloud payment HSMs can provide significant operational and cost advantages."

 

- Karthik Krishnan, Principal Solutions Architect

AWS

Enterprise Data Encryption Solutions

Futurex provides HSMs and key management servers that handle encryption, bring-your-own-key (BYOK). Futurex helps enterprise organizations deploy a modern cloud data security environment that complies with the latest standards and regulations.

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