AWS KMS (Key Management Service)

Overview

• Central AWS service for managing encryption and decryption.

• When encryption is involved in an AWS service, it is often powered by KMS.

Features

• Key Management
• Supports AWS-managed keys and customer-managed keys (CMKs).
• Handles key creation, rotation, and secure storage.

• Access Control
• Integrated with IAM for fine-grained permissions.
• Controls who can create, manage, or use specific keys.

• Auditability
• All KMS API calls are logged in CloudTrail for compliance and auditing.

• Service Integration
• Works seamlessly with AWS services like:
• Amazon EBS for encrypted volumes.
• Amazon S3 for object encryption.
• Amazon RDS for encrypted databases.
• SSM Parameter Store for secure parameter storage.

• API Access
• Encryption and decryption available via AWS SDKs, AWS CLI, and APIs.

Best Practices

• Avoid storing sensitive data in plaintext, especially in code.

• Encrypt secrets with KMS before storing them in:
• Environment variables.
• Configuration files.
• Secure storage services such as Secrets Manager or Parameter Store.