Patent ID: 8694781

Claim:
In a computing device, a method of providing hardware security module (HSM) operability, the method comprising: running, by processing circuitry of the computing device, a virtual machine monitor to provide a virtual machine environment; running, by the processing circuitry, a security module virtual machine within the virtual machine environment, the security module virtual machine being configured to perform HSM operations on behalf of a set of other virtual machines; imposing, by the processing circuitry, a requirement that all access between the security module virtual machine and the set of other virtual machines occur through the virtual machine monitor to isolate and protect the security module virtual machine against tampering; and imposing, by the processing circuitry, a requirement that M-of-N human administrators provide approval to unlock access to a security module template prior to instantiating the security module virtual machine from the unlocked security module template to control access to the security module template, wherein N is a total number of human administrators having administrative access to the virtual machine environment, and wherein M is greater than 1.