Weston, FL and Cambridge UK – 18 January 2011 – Thales, leader in information
systems and communications security and a Microsoft Gold Partner, announces its
nShield hardware security modules (HSMs) now provide comprehensive key management
and hardware-based cryptography for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. Microsoft customers
selecting Thales HSMs now benefit from additional security features including encryption
key management and storage of master encryption keys in FIPS-validated hardware – a
long-standing industry best practice – enabling organizations to meet compliance
mandates such as PCI DSS and data breach notification acts.
“Companies and government agencies are under significant pressure to provide the
highest level of security to protect information,” says Persio Afonso, director of SQL Server
marketing at Microsoft Corp. “Some Microsoft customers operate in highly regulated
industries and would benefit from adopting Thales HSMs to meet their specific industry
security requirements. The integration of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 with Thales
HSMs offers customers a strong hardware-backed security framework for their database
security needs.”
Sensitive data stored in a database is protected against the escalating threats of data
breaches by cyber criminals and intellectual property thieves wherever it resides, whether
it is transferred to other media such as tape for backup or transported off site. Thales
HSMs protect and manage the keys used for transparent data encryption (TDE) and cell-
level encryption in FIPS-validated hardware – allowing organizations to take advantage
of cost-effective key management across multiple servers. In addition the encryption keys
are stored separate from the data itself as required by compliance mandates or corporate
data security standards. For high availability, Thales HSMs support SQL Server cluster
and mirrored configurations.
“The integration of Thales HSMs with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 represents the latest
advance in a longstanding partnership between Thales and Microsoft and satisfies many
strategic objectives that organizations may have surrounding data security”, says Franck
Greverie, Thales VP in charge of information technology security. “The opportunity to
apply Thales’s market-leading key management technologies alongside Microsoft’s
database encryption solution enables customers to safeguard their sensitive data without
any application changes. Customers can now increase the overall security of their
deployment helping meet today’s ever-evolving data threats and compliance mandates.”
Thales nShield connect and nShield Solo HSMs integrate with Microsoft SQL Server
2008 R2 as well as with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 databases with TDE.
More information, including a white paper, on Thales HSMs and integration with
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is available at www.thalesesec.com/microsoft.
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