SafeNet has announced the availability of a cryptographic security solution as a Web service for Service Oriented Architectures (SOA).

"SafeNet's XML hardware security module (HSM) is designed to provide cryptographic services for SOA without adding complexity. Furthermore, by utilizing our encryption solution to secure SOA, companies can reduce costs, streamline business processes, drive corporate agility and meet regulatory compliance," said Rana Gupta, Director, India & SAARC, SafeNet.

SOAs make businesses more efficient by reusing legacy applications and databases to provide common Web services for users and applications throughout the enterprise. The openness and integration advantages of SOAs also create vulnerabilities to sensitive data in legacy systems that were not designed to be accessed by Web services.

"Security vulnerabilities threaten an organization's data, as well as its compliance standing, and can significantly delay the implementation of Web services," stated Michael Suby, director at Stratecast, a Division of Frost and Sullivan. "To address this business challenge, encryption-based security seals confidential Web services XML data exchanges in a protective envelope."

Cryptographic security is the most complex and performance-critical part of securing Web services. This challenge is magnified by the lack of crypto-security expertise among SOA project managers and developers. HSMs provide an ideal XML Web service security solution for high performance encryption, digital signature, and key management services.

Compared with other HSMs, SafeNet's XML HSM is easy to integrate because it provides an XML programming interface that requires no knowledge of cryptographic APIs. As a result, security deployment times are cut from months to days. Without the need to install a client, and independent of underlying platforms, SafeNet further reduces complexity and development constraints.

By using a hardware security appliance, SafeNet's SOA security solution scales to meet the demands of appli¬cations and data throughput within an organization as it grows. Reusing this encryption functionality across the SOA delivers a low-cost, high return security solution with adaptability to changing requirements.

FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated and equipped with multi-level access controls, SafeNet's XML HSM meets the highest security requirements. Integrated physical security measures include tamper-evident seals, intrusion detection switches, and shielded connectors designed to resist physical attacks on the appliance.

SafeNet HSM Luna XML is a key component of SafeNet's comprehensive Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) solution for reducing the cost and complexity of regulatory compliance, data privacy, and information risk management. SafeNet EDP is the only solution that secures data across the connected enterprise, from core to edge, protecting data at rest, data in transit, and data in use. In 2008, SafeNet shipped its 75,000th HSM, more than any other vendor.