AWS Key Management Service vs Azure Key Vault: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this markdown document, we will compare AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Azure Key Vault. Both services are offered by major cloud providers to securely store and manage cryptographic keys used for encryption and decryption of data. Below are the key differences between the two services.

1. Integration with Cloud Services: AWS KMS is tightly integrated with AWS services, providing seamless encryption and decryption capabilities for various AWS resources such as EBS volumes, RDS databases, and S3 objects. On the other hand, Azure Key Vault integrates with Azure services, allowing easy integration with applications and services hosted on Azure.

2. Regional Availability: AWS KMS provides regional key management, allowing customers to manage keys specific to a region. Azure Key Vault, on the other hand, offers global keys that can be used across regions, providing more flexibility in multi-region deployments.

3. Pricing Models: AWS KMS offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where customers are billed based on the number of API requests and the amount of data processed. Azure Key Vault, on the other hand, offers a separate pricing model for key operations and secret operations. Key operations include key creation, rotation, and deletion, while secret operations include retrieval and management of secrets.

4. Key Types: AWS KMS supports the generation and management of asymmetric keys (RSA and Elliptic Curve) and symmetric keys (AES). Azure Key Vault also supports both asymmetric and symmetric keys, but additionally provides support for hardware security modules (HSMs) for enhanced key protection.

5. Granular Key Management: AWS KMS allows users to control access to individual keys using IAM policies, providing granular control over key management. Azure Key Vault, on the other hand, provides access control through Azure Active Directory, allowing fine-grained access control based on user roles and permissions.

6. Third-Party Integration: AWS KMS integrates with various third-party services and tools, such as AWS CloudTrail for logging and AWS CloudHSM for hardware-based key management. Azure Key Vault also has integrations with third-party services and tools, including Azure Monitor for logging and Azure Sentinel for security monitoring.

In summary, AWS KMS and Azure Key Vault are both secure key management services offered by major cloud providers. They differ in terms of integration with cloud services, availability, pricing models, key types supported, granular key management capabilities, and third-party integrations.