nShield Connect from Thales e-Security is a high-performance network-attached hardware security module (HSM) that delivers secure cryptographic services as a shared resource for distributed application instances and virtual machines. With nShield Connect, organizations have a cost-effective way to establish appropriate levels of physical and logical controls for server-based systems where software-based cryptography is inadequate. Fully supporting the Thales Security World architecture, nShield Connect provides an ideal combination of high assurance and operational ease. This makes it easier for you to define and enforce security policies such as dual controls while also automating burdensome and risk-prone administrative tasks. nShield Connect is fully compatible with the rest of the nShield HSM family, enabling mixed deployments and easy migration as performance requirements increase. The product is available in multiple models with varying performance characteristics, including a model specifically optimized for elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), to match your capacity requirements. Redundant hardware provides fault tolerance, making nShield Connect suitable for high-availability data centers. This independently certified security platform performs key management and cryptographic operations such as encryption and digital signing on behalf of a wide range of commercial and custom-built business applications and critical security systems including public key infrastructures (PKIs), identity management systems, databases, web fabric, domain name system security extension (DNSSEC) deployments and code signing. Its security boundary is validated to FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and Common Criteria EAL4+.