Hold Your Own Key (HYOK)

HYOK allows customers to retain key material in their own infrastructure.

Overview

• Key material never enters QNSI
• Customer HSM performs cryptographic operations
• QNSI orchestrates but doesn't hold keys

Architecture

QNSI Service → Customer HSM Proxy → Customer HSM
                                         ↓
                                   Key Material

Configuration

HYOK orchestration APIs are not shipped in this repo. Configuration and enrollment depend on your deployment bundle.

Operations

HYOK keys support:

• Encrypt/decrypt (proxied to customer HSM)
• Sign/verify (proxied to customer HSM)

Not supported:

• Key material export
• Key rotation (managed by customer)

Requirements

Customer HSM must:

• Expose compatible API
• Support mTLS authentication
• Meet latency requirements (<100ms)

Use cases

• Regulatory requirements for key custody
• Existing HSM investments
• Maximum control over key material

Add-on

HYOK enablement and licensing are deployment-specific.