Box Targets Regulated Industries With Cloud Encryption Key Management

Box says its enterprise key management (EKM) service will allow its most security-conscious customers to secure their content in the cloud without compromising the functionality of the company’s platform.

EKM allows businesses to keep control of their own encryption keys and log audits thanks to a dedicated Amazon Web Services (AWS)-powered CloudHSM appliance in the cloud protected by Gemalto’s SafeNet Hardware Security Modules.

While Amazon manages and maintains the hardware, neither it nor Box has access to the keys.

Box EKM

Box, fresh from its initial public offering last month, hopes EKM will encourage firms, especially those in regulated industries, to adopt its services. EKM is available as a beta from today and will be generally available from the Spring.

“Industries like finance, government, legal and healthcare are facing a new set of challenges when it comes to establishing control over their content – and who can access it – without hindering collaboration and productivity,” said Aaron Levie, Box CEO. “With Box EKM, we’ve removed the final barrier to cloud adoption for industries that require the highest levels of protection over their information.”

“We’re excited to work with Box to use AWS CloudHSM to drive a new generation of business productivity and collaboration for organizations that require the highest levels of security and regulatory compliance,” added Adam Selipsky, vice president of AWS.

Box recently added a number of new features to Box Notes, its collaboration application, including version history so users can track changes to documents, the introduction of tables and improvements to embedded images.

The company had initially planned to go public late last year, but after a number of delays and another round of private funding, eventually floated on the New York Stock Exchange in January with a valuation of £1.1 billion.

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