Cryptographic Authority
Hardware Security Module (HSM)
A tamper-resistant physical device for managing cryptographic keys and operations — the institutional standard CLAVI extends with air-gapped sovereignty.
Definition
A dedicated physical computing device that safeguards and manages cryptographic keys, performs encryption and signing operations, and enforces access policies — all within a tamper-resistant boundary. HSMs are the institutional standard for key management in banking, certificate authorities, and government systems. While consumer hardware wallets borrow concepts from HSMs, CLAVI's Monolith extends the model by combining HSM-grade key isolation with air-gapped computation and offline AI processing.