# An Introduction to Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)

DevFeed: [An Introduction to Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/an-introduction-to-hardware-security-modules-hsms-29961.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://goteleport.com/blog/what-is-hsm/>)

Author: info@goteleport.com (Russell Jones)

Published: 2021-08-31T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Teleport](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/teleport.md>)

Topics: [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [private key](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/private-key.md>), [sensitive data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sensitive-data.md>), [remote access](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/remote-access.md>), [certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/certificates.md>)

Tags: [certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/certificates.md>), [private-key](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/private-key.md>), [remote-access](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/remote-access.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [sensitive-data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sensitive-data.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains how hardware security modules protect sensitive data such as private keys by exposing cryptographic operations instead of allowing the data to be read. It describes Teleport 7.2 support for HSMs and how they can reduce the risk of private-key theft in remote-access clusters, while noting that HSMs do not mitigate every attack vector.

## Source excerpt

In this blog post we explain how hardware security modules (HSM) help protect sensitive data and how Teleport 7.2 uses HSM to make remote access more secure.