Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a Hardware Security Module (HSM)?

A Hardware Security Module (HSM) is primarily designed for secure generation, storage, and management of cryptographic keys, as well as performing encryption and decryption tasks. It provides a secure processing environment to protect sensitive operations and ensures that encryption keys are generated and handled within a secure boundary to prevent unauthorized access.

Generating encryption keys is a fundamental characteristic of HSMs, allowing them to create strong, unpredictable keys that are essential for maintaining the security of communications and data. The secure processing environment feature is critical as it means that all key-related operations are performed in a tamper-resistant device, effectively safeguarding against various physical and logical attacks.

Facilitating key management is another vital aspect of HSMs, as they provide capabilities for the lifecycle management of cryptographic keys—such as key creation, storage, rotation, and destruction—ensuring that keys are used correctly and securely throughout their intended usage.

On the other hand, biometric access control, while an important security measure in many contexts, is not a typical characteristic of HSMs. HSMs generally rely on traditional authentication mechanisms, such as passwords, tokens, or hardware-based authentication methods, rather than biometric methods. Therefore, it could be said that biometric access control does not align with the