IBM Key Protect for IBM Cloud is a cloud key management service (KMS) for creating, importing, storing, rotating, and destroying encryption keys used by IBM Cloud services (and some external integrations) to protect data at rest. IBM describes it as providing centralized key lifecycle management with customer control, auditability, and integration into IBM Cloud’s ecosystem.
Key capabilities documented by IBM include:
- Central lifecycle management for encryption keys (create/import/rotate/destroy).
- BYOK-style import of symmetric keys (ability to bring customer-managed keys into the service).
- Integration hooks: API-based integration, and KMIP adapter support (useful for VMware and other infrastructure integrations).
- Activity monitoring via IBM Cloud Activity Tracker (audit trail).