What is Key Management Service (KMS)?

Key Management Service (KMS) is a system for creating, storing, and managing cryptographic keys. KMS solutions provide secure key generation, storage, distribution, rotation, and destruction. They are commonly used to encrypt data at rest (e.g., in databases, file systems, and object storage), in transit (e.g., network traffic), and in use (e.g., in memory). KMS helps organizations comply with security and compliance requirements by centralizing key management and providing audit trails of key usage.