Encryption key management is the administration of tasks involved with protecting, storing, backing up and organizing encryption keys.
High-profile data losses and regulatory compliance requirements have caused a dramatic increase in the use of encryption in the enterprise. A single enterprise might use several dozen different and possibly incompatible encryption tools, resulting in thousands of encryption keys. Each key must be securely stored, protected and retrievable.
There are several encryption key management standards efforts underway. The best known is the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) developed by vendors and submitted to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). The goal of KMIP is to allow users to attach any encryption device to a key management system
