Overview
Protect data with centralized key lifecycle management
IBM Security® Guardium® Key Lifecycle Manager is an encryption key management tool that centralizes, simplifies and automates the key management process. It offers robust and security-rich key storage, key serving and key lifecycle management for self-encrypting applications and solutions by using interoperability protocols, including KMIP, IPP and REST, and interfaces such as PKCS#11. Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager helps clients meet regulations such as PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA by providing access control, key rotation and other automated key lifecycle management processes.
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Why Guardium
Customers realize value quickly with the full set of Guardium features
75%
reduction in audit prep with automated compliance audit and reporting
60
billion security events per day in 130+ countries monitored by IBM for constant vigilance
1,000
hours of DBA time saved with automated processes
Benefits
Centralized, transparent key management
Provides centralized, simplified, and transparent key management through the secure storage of key material and the serving of keys at the time of use.
Simple, secure integration
Offers simple, secure integration with supported protocols, including KMIP, IPP and REST, and interfaces such as PKCS#11.
Lower costs
Reduces key management costs by automating the assignment and rotation of keys.
Flexible deployment
Multiple options for deployment on bare-metal, as a virtual machine, or as a container
Deeper insights and broader integrations mean stronger data security
See what's new in out latest release, including endpoint certificate insights, support for Oracle TDE databases and more.
Features
See how IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager features work
Provides more efficient and simplified key management
Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager enables you to manage the lifecycle of keys by automating the creation, import, distribution and backup of keys. It enables key generation and distribution from a centralized location and groups devices into separate domains for simpler key management. It also supports role-based access control of administrative accounts.

Delivers secured key management
The solution provides cryptographically proven, end-to-end security for key serving. It offers automated replication for high-availability deployments, supports Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Level 1, and offers users the option to use FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated hardware to enhance key security.

Enables quick assessment and investigation of digital certificate statuses
Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager’s Certificate Vision dashboard provides deep insight into the health and status of your digital certificates. Users can quickly assess the expiration of managed certificates from a central location and drill down by category for greater detail. Contextualizing digital certificates helps users understand their status, risk, expiration dates and other factors that influence network security.

Speeds implementation
The solution reduces operating costs, speeds implementation and enables interoperability with wizard-based assistance. It enables administrators to quickly configure integration with KMIP, IPP or REST-compatible devices, as well as Oracle TDE databases, and provides an administration welcome page that delivers critical notices. It offers a web-based GUI that helps ease key configuration and management tasks, including automating key provisioning, rotating keys and destroying keys.

Pricing
How we price Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager
Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager requires a combination of both software and usage entitlements.
Eligible software license types:
- GKLM Basic Edition
- GKLM Container Edition for Distributed Platforms
- GKLM Container Edition for zCX
Eligible usage license types:
- Resource Value Units based on raw or usable decimal terabytes or petabytes of storage
- Device-type licenses for certain endpoints (Transparent Data Encryption Databases, VMware and others)
Free 90-day trial
Experience our market-leading key management system in your own test environment today.
Resources
How to Stay Ahead of Device Certificate Expiration
Learn about device certificates and why you need a system in place to monitor their health and status.
Try a Key Management System
Learn how an encryption key management system keeps data secure from unauthorized use, alteration, exfiltration or deletion.
Technical specifications
See the IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager supported devices.
Technical documentation
See the latest on all IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager version 4 and 3 releases.
System requirements
See the support matrix for hardware, operating systems, browsers, hypervisors, middleware, HSMs, and KMIP.
Guardium user community
Our user community has over 13,000 members. We work together to overcome the toughest challenges of cybersecurity.