Can anyone recommend a good software-based HSM emulator for use with Windows Server 2003 (or later) certificate services? I need to be able to demonstrate how the use of a HSM alters the CA setup process and I don't have access to a hardware-based HSM for the demonstration. I see the Utimaco have a simulator for their SafeGuard SecurityServer product. Does anyone have any experience with this simulator? Steve G

Steve, Why do you not contact the HSM vendors for an evaluation agreement. All of the vendors are more than happy to provide evaluation agreements so that you can play with their hardware Brian

Thanks, Brian. I'll look into obtaining some evaluation kit. My original thought, just because it was a demonstration, was to keep things as portable as possible, hence the idea of something I could run in a virtual machine. Steve G

To be honest, the only way to really learn about HSMs is to physically touch the HSMs When you get into the concept of security controls for private key access, nothing is better than physically touching the controls and seeing the process HTH, Brian