What is: CNG Key Isolation (lsass.exe)
- Blog
- September 22, 2022
CNG Key Isolation is a process that helps to isolate and protect cryptographic keys from unauthorized access. This is done by storing the keys in a secure location that is separate from the rest of the operating system. CNG Key Isolation can be used to protect both symmetric and asymmetric keys.
Table of Contents
What is: CNG Key Isolation (lsass.exe)
How does it work?
CNG Key Isolation is a security feature in Windows that helps protect your cryptographic keys from being compromised by malicious software. When you enable CNG Key Isolation, your keys are isolated from the rest of the operating system and only accessible to the specific process that needs them. This isolation helps to prevent keys from being stolen or tampered with by malicious software that might be running on your system.
What are the benefits?
CNG Key Isolation is a security feature in Windows that can help protect your system against certain types of attacks. By isolating your cryptographic keys from the rest of the operating system, CNG Key Isolation can help to prevent those keys from being compromised by malware or other malicious software. Additionally, CNG Key Isolation can also help to ensure that your keys are only used by authorized software.
What are the drawbacks?
There are a few potential drawbacks to CNG key isolation. First, it requires administrator privileges to set up, which can be a hassle. Second, it can introduce a small performance penalty, since lsass.exe must now make an extra call to the CryptoAPI. Finally, CNG key isolation is not supported on all versions of Windows; it was introduced in Windows Vista and is not available on earlier versions.
Should you use it?
CNG Key Isolation is a security feature that was introduced in Windows Vista and is still present in Windows 10. It is designed to protect cryptographic keys from being exposed to software that could potentially misuse them. When CNG Key Isolation is enabled, cryptographic keys are stored in a separate process called the LSAss process. This process is isolated from the rest of the operating system and can only be accessed by authorized software.
So, should you use CNG Key Isolation? If you’re concerned about the security of your cryptographic keys, then yes, you should definitely enable this feature. It will help to protect your keys from being compromised by malicious software.
