Google Cloud Platform Collaborates with Fortanix to Deliver External Key Management System for Public Cloud

Fortanix Inc., the Runtime Encryption company, today announced that it has collaborated with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to integrate its newly announced External Key Manager service with the Fortanix Self-Defending Key Management Service (SDKMS). Businesses can now migrate classes of sensitive data and applications to help address data privacy compliance issues on public cloud.

“At Google Cloud, we give enterprises a broad range of encryption options to appropriately balance risk, control, security, and operational complexity when protecting cloud workloads,” said Il-Sung Lee, Product Manager at Google Cloud. “Today, in collaboration with Fortanix, we’re bringing customers the next level of controls for their cloud environments with External Key Manager and making it easy to implement and support our customers’ governance and compliance processes.”

While many cloud service providers have allowed customers to bring their own keys (BYOK), Google Cloud Platform is the first public cloud provider to enable customers to bring their own key management system (BYOKMS) where encryption keys can be stored in their own datacenters with a single point of management and auditability. When customers control their own keys, they can move applications bound by compliance requirements such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to the public cloud.

“As a cloud-native solution, Fortanix has the advantage of providing a unified encryption platform that includes key lifecycle management, hardware security module (HSM), tokenization and shares secrets in one system that services on-premises, hybrid cloud and public cloud,” said Faiyaz Shahpurwala, Fortanix Chief Product and Strategy Officer. “We commend Google for taking a leadership position by being the first public cloud provider to deliver this ground-breaking security functionality to the market.”

Equinix, the global interconnection and data center company, also announced Equinix SmartKey integration with Google Cloud’s External Key Manager. Equinix SmartKey, powered by Fortanix, is a global key management and encryption Software as a Service offering that simplifies data protection across any cloud or destination.

“We are excited to see Google Cloud Platform enabling this integration with external key management systems,” said Lance Weaver, VP Platform Strategy and Edge Services at Equinix. “We believe the Equinix SmartKey platform is an ideal way for cloud-first organizations to take advantage of this capability with a FIPS-validated solution delivered as a SaaS consumption based model.”