Top 5 Cryptographic Key Protection Best Practices

This article explains the risks of compromised cryptographic keys and outlines five best practices to mitigate them: avoid hardcoded keys (favor white-box protection), assign keys to single purposes (including strong KEKs), leverage hardware-backed security (HSM/TPM/TEE) where feasible, use white-box cryptography when hardware is unavailable or insufficient, and implement rigorous key management policies across the lifecycle; it cites examples (SIM key theft, EM side-channel demo, South African bank, Marriott) and references NIST SP 800-57 and the OWASP Key Management Cheat Sheet.