Can we persist keys in 3rd party key stores? We do not want to store in Microsoft Keys Store. Any clue for such providers and samples/documentation will be helpful.
If I understand you right, Key Vault in Microsoft Azure is what you are looking for.
The problem, however, is that at the moment this API is not easily useable in a transparent manner, i.e. you need to explicitly call API functions via the provided Vault SDK.
Related
We are working on a REST api which needs to generate a fingerprint. So it has to store a key and password on its end for generating this fingerprint. Presently, we've stored these values in config file.
But doesn't meet the security requirements. Wanted to know if .net has any better way of storing such key info? Any keystore available similar to Javakeystore?
In general, how to secure critical data in .net Web apis?
You can use Azure Key Vault for storing your key and password securely.
Here, how can you configure this,
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/secrets/quick-create-portal
Is it common practice to store the EH Connection string, clientid and secret in Key Vault?
Do you then refer the producer client to retrieve from Key Vault stored
MSFT documentation is a bit more focused on web apps to me.
My noddy interpretation
Storing your secrets like connection strings in something like KeyVault is generally always a good idea.
For your particular scenario this seems valid as well. Even better would be, though, if you could use Azure AD authentication directly against the Event Hub. This depends on whether the client SDK you use does support it yet.
I need to build a web app that accesses some encrypted columns on a DB. All must be hosted in the client's azure account. I have searched for a couple of days and read a lot of tutorials but I can't find an answer to my problem.
I have mainly followed these:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-always-encrypted
http://www.bradleyschacht.com/always-encrypted-with-azure-key-vault/
I was able to run a web app on my machine with the certificate generated by SSMS encryption wizard and a SQL DB hosted on azure. I couldn't do it with an azure vault key.
Now I need to publish my web app on azure but I'm unable to access/modify the DB data. I need to either use the certificate from my machine or use the azure vault. Can anyone explain to me how it's done?
I tried to export the certificate to the azure vault, but I don't know how to "reference" it
I tried to create a new table on the db and encrypting it with a vault key, but I get:
Failed to decrypt a column encryption key. Invalid key store provider
name: 'AZURE_KEY_VAULT'. A key store provider name must denote either
a system key store provider or a registered custom key store provider.
Valid system key store provider names are: 'MSSQL_CERTIFICATE_STORE',
'MSSQL_CNG_STORE', 'MSSQL_CSP_PROVIDER'. Valid (currently registered)
custom key store provider names are: . Please verify key store
provider information in column master key definitions in the database,
and verify all custom key store providers used in your application are
registered properly."
I read somewhere that I need to give permission in the AD to my application, but I don't have permissions from my client (the owner of the Azure subscription) to do that.
I read also that a stored procedure must be used to read and write to the DB. Is this true?
Thanks in advance for any help.
I need to either use the certificate from my machine or use the azure
vault. Can anyone explain to me how it's done?
It depends on your use-case. Actually Selecting Keystore Provider for your Column Master key is depends on which driver and version you are using. There are two high-level categories of key stores : Read here
Local
Centralized Key Store
Local
If you planning to deploy your App in On-Prem/VM, then you can generate our own Certificate and keep the certificate within your Local VM.
Centralized Key Store
If you planning to deploy your App in azure web APP/Cloud then you should keep your Key Store in a centralized Secure Vault which may be here as Azure Key Vault
As a best practice, you should not store the provider in the Local machine, Which would be a problem if you VM is compromised then your DB certificate also be compromised.
I tried to export the certificate to the azure vault, but I don't know
how to "reference" it
CREATE COLUMN MASTER KEY [TESTMASTERKEY]
WITH
(
KEY_STORE_PROVIDER_NAME = N'AZURE_KEY_VAULT',
KEY_PATH = N'' --Paste your Key Identifier
)
GO
I tried to create a new table on the DB and encrypting it with a vault
key, but I get:
Always try to download the latest SSMS version.
Assume you are using Azure SQLDB. Always encryption will work only on SQL Server
2016 and above in on-prem and all versions of Azure SQLDB
Set the connection string to Column Encryption Setting=enabled
The behavior you describe is a bug in CTP 3.0 and SSMS October update. The issue, as you surmised, is that the Azure Key Vault provider is not registered if you open the Query Editor window opening the Always Encrypted wizard first. We’ve already fixed this for the next update of SSMS! In the meantime, the workaround is to open the Always Encrypted wizard (you can close it/cancel immediately after opening) which will cause the Azure Key Vault provider to get registered.
This bug manifests itself only through this specific case (using the Query Editor before the wizard), and won’t at all impact your ability to use the Always Encrypted wizard or use the Azure Key Vault provider with any of your client applications.
So try to download the latest SSMS version.
I read somewhere that I need to give permission in the AD to my
application, but I don't have permissions from my client (the owner of
the Azure subscription) to do that.
This is mainly for the Client side. You need to register your app in order to get the client id and client secret for your client-side application to talk with encrypted data in DB. Read here for how to register your client app. Unless you register your app, you couldn't able to connect from any client-side(Except SSMS). You need to contact the subscription owner to register the app.
I read also that a stored procedure must be used to read and write to
the DB. Is this true?
Depends on your Encryption Type. There are two types of Encryption Read here about it
Deterministic
Randomized
Each having its own pro and cons.
Deterministic encryption always generates the same encrypted value for any given plaintext value. Using deterministic encryption allows point lookups, equality joins, grouping and indexing on encrypted columns. However, but may also allow unauthorized users to guess information about encrypted values by examining patterns in the encrypted column, especially if there is a small set of possible encrypted values, such as True/False, or North/South/East/West region. Deterministic encryption must use a column collation with a binary2 sort order for character columns.
Randomized encryption uses a method that encrypts data in a less predictable manner. Randomized encryption is more secure, but prevents searching, grouping, indexing, and joining on encrypted columns.
Full explanation of all aspects related to this topic here: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5355073/Full-Tutorial-on-using-Always-Encrypted-with-Azure
I tried to cover in the article both legacy projects and new approaches and also transition phase.
I make speech recognition App using Bing speech API with javascript library.
But I need to contain SubscriptionKey to Html/JS code using Library.
I think another person can see my key and use it.
How to save my key?
Can regenerate key dynamically on each user access?
or
Can set expire limitation to key?
You are recommended to make calls from the server side. You can initiate a call from your client to server, where your client is whitelisted and then make a call to the API. Alternately, you can use Azure Key Vault to generate secret and use that and change that often. Further, you are recommended to change subscription keys and/or Azure Key Vault secret often to limit exposure.
A similar question but for Bing Maps is posted here: http://www.garzilla.net/vemaps/Protecting-Your-Map-Key.aspx.
I am building an application that will run on Google App Engine (GAE). It will need access to data stored by the user in other systems (e.g. the user's Nest thermostat, Yahoo mail). The application running on GAE will allow the user to provide credentials for the other system. The application will store these credentials in Google Cloud (Datastore) for later use by an application running on Google Compute Engine on the users behalf. The application will also allow OAuth to allow the user to allow the application access the external system in the user's behalf. The application will need to store user credentials (username and passwords) or OAuth access tokens in the Google Cloud.
The application will need to encrypt the secrets before they are stored and be able to unencrypt the data to send it to the external systems. That is, the system will need to use symmetric encryption and therefor need to securely manage keys.
How can the application store these secrets in the Google Cloud Datastore (Datastore) securely? I think I am looking for something like the AWS CloudHSM for Google. That is, I would like to store each secret with a seed and key id and use the key id to get the key from a key management system. This implementation would also allow for key rotation and other standard security practices.
I think I am looking for a Google Cloud service or Google API that provides secrets management and only allows an app with the proper Google app identifier to access the secrets.
Is there a service within Google Cloud or Google APIs that will manage secrets? Is there another architecture that I should be considering?
By the way, the application uses Google Identity Toolkit (GitKit) to authenticate and authorize users to use the GAE hosted application. The application allows users to create accounts using either federate identities or username and passwords via GitKit.
Thanks,
chris
In the meantime, Google also added a Key Management Service: https://cloud.google.com/kms/
You could e.g. use it to encrypt your data before storing it in a database. Or, use KMS to encrypt an AES key to encrypt your data, and possibly keep a backup of your AES key somewhere in case you lose access to KMS.
App Identity Service might be what you are looking for https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/java/appidentity/#Java_Asserting_identity_to_other_systems
It lets you sign content with an application-specific private key, and provides rotating certificates to validate signed content.
So as far as I can tell the answer is that you can't. What you are looking for is an equivalent to KMS. That service let's you create and manage keys and do a bunch of your own crypto stuff. It's really cool and it will allow you to quickly do incredibly strong crypto with just a few simple lines of code. Azure has a similar service called KeyVault. It lacks automated key generation and rotation as far as I can tell, but other than that it's good. At the time of this response there was not an equivalent service for Google. They have an internal KMS which they used for crypto operations and you can provide your own keys, but that's pretty much it. Not quite the same thing that you get on KeyVault, and nothing like KMS.
That said there is hope. You can do one of two things:
Create a VPC and use an HSM from somewhere else. You could use RackSpace, or you could simply use AWS KMS. That sounds crazy but it's actually a good idea and the extra management is worth it. In general the most secure solution separate the keys from the encrypted data, particularly at rest. That means that keys in one data center and encrypted data stored in another data center is the most secure solution. That sounds like hard stuff, but thankfully I've made an opensource project which makes it very easy for you called KeyStor. With KeyStor you can get a data center that deals with encryption services set up in a day, no problem, and you can use AWS very cost effectively.
Set up your own cypto service, skip the HSM integration and simply be careful about who has access to the machines that maintain your keys. You can do this with KeyStor as well, and if KeyStor doesn't quite do what you want, that's why it's open-source. Take the code and build what you need to build.
You could store secrets in storage (e.g., in Datastore, Google Cloud Storage, or another storage system of your choice) and encrypt those with a key from Google's Cloud KMS.
Here's some documentation from Google on secret management, and here's a codelab on specifically encrypting data in Google Cloud Storage at the application layer using Cloud KMS.
For the Google Cloud managed service that provides the API for secure storage of secrets, see Google Cloud Secret Manager for more details.
Secret Manager is a secure and convenient storage system for API keys, passwords, certificates, and other sensitive data. Secret Manager provides a central place and single source of truth to manage, access, and audit secrets across Google Cloud.