In regulated industries such as finance, government services, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is foundational. PKI secures digital identities, encrypts communications, and underpins regulatory compliance frameworks such as eIDAS, FIPS, and Common Criteria.
Yet despite its importance, PKI remains one of the most complex security domains to operate. Protecting private keys, managing certificate lifecycles, ensuring high availability, and scaling securely often result in significant operational overhead and increased risk.
Modern PKI architectures no longer need to choose between security and efficiency. By combining certified hardware security with automated lifecycle management, organizations can simplify PKI operations while meeting the strictest regulatory requirements.
This article explores how Securosys Primus HSMs and MTG’s Enterprise Resource Security suite (CARA, CLM, and KMS) work together to address real-world challenges of PKI in regulated environments.
Organizations operating in regulated markets must ensure:
Traditionally, these requirements have driven complex and fragile PKI setups: manual key handling, isolated CA systems, complex backup procedures, and custom failover designs. As certificate volumes grow and lifecycles shorten, these approaches no longer scale effectively.
To reduce complexity without compromising security, regulated organizations need a PKI architecture where trust is anchored in hardware and operations are driven by automation. This is exactly what the combination of MTG’s ERS ® (Enterprise Resource Security) solution and Securosys Primus HSMs delivers.
The MTG ERS ® suite provides a centralized, policy-driven PKI control layer, while Securosys Primus HSMs serve as the certified hardware root of trust. Connected via standard PKCS#11 interfaces, cryptographic keys and sensitive operations are securely confined to tamper-resistant hardware, while certificate processes are automated and orchestrated at the software level.
This approach reduces operational risk by minimizing exposure of sensitive cryptographic material and limiting manual key handling where appropriate. Private keys for Root and Subordinate Certificate Authorities are generated and remain within the HSM, ensuring they are protected throughout their lifecycle and never exposed outside the secure boundary of the device.At the same time, it allows organizations to scale certificate issuance and lifecycle management efficiently, without introducing architectural fragility or compliance gaps.
The result is a clean separation of responsibilities: MTG handles lifecycle automation and policy orchestration, while Securosys provides the hardware root of trust.
MTG’s Enterprise Resource Security suite provides the cryptographic and operational foundation for modern PKI:
Securosys Primus HSMs are designed for environments where compliance is non-negotiable. Certifications include:
Additional certifications, such as FIPS 140-3 and eIDAS Sole Control (SAM), are underway, ensuring long-term regulatory alignment.
This makes Primus HSMs a strong foundation for PKI deployments in financial services, public sector identity programs, healthcare systems, and trust services.
PKI workloads vary widely—from internal enterprise certificates to national-scale identity infrastructures. Primus HSMs are built to scale:
This allows organizations to grow their PKI footprint without redesigning their security architecture.
The combined MTG – Securosys solution adapts easily to organizations at different stages of PKI maturity.
For new PKI deployments, MTG CARA and CLM can be introduced as the foundational certificate authority and lifecycle management components, with Securosys Primus HSMs integrated from the outset to protect CA private keys. This enables organizations to build a modern PKI architecture that is automated by design and anchored in certified hardware trust, reducing future operational and compliance challenges.
In existing PKI environments, Securosys Primus HSMs can be introduced to protect Root and Sub CA keys without requiring a full redesign of the current infrastructure. MTG CLM can then be added to automate certificate lifecycles, improve visibility, and enforce policies consistently across the environment. This approach allows organizations to modernize their PKI incrementally, lowering risk while improving security, resilience, and regulatory alignment.
As a result, the solution is particularly well-suited for PKI modernization initiatives in regulated industries such as finance, public infrastructure, healthcare, and digital identity services.
In regulated markets, PKI must deliver trust, compliance, and resilience, but it does not need to be complex. By combining MTG’s automated certificate lifecycle and CA services and Securosys Primus HSMs as a certified hardware root of trust, organizations can achieve:
In an era where digital trust is mission-critical, hardware-backed automation is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity.