Polkas, Pop Songs and PKI in Keyfactor’s Cybersecurity Album

What happens when cybersecurity meets music streaming? For one creative marketer at Keyfactor, it resulted in a full-blown, 10-track album that covers everything from post-quantum cryptography to certificate lifespans, all delivered through reggae anthems, 90s power ballads, new wave jams and even beerhall polkas.

Yes, really.

The album — cheekily titled Now That’s What I Call Digital Trust — is now available on Spotify, YouTube and other major streaming platforms. And while it won’t be challenging Billboard’s top 100 anytime soon, it’s already become an internal hit and a cybersecurity cult curiosity.

From roasting gamers to rocking the PKI world

Mike Burnside, performance marketing manager at Keyfactor, says the idea started as a bit of fun inspired by an online game.

“Someone in an online game I was playing created a song to roast another player and I was stunned by the hilarity and quality of the song,” he explained to SecurityInfoWatch. “I signed up for a free trial and was surprised at the range of the system in generating even songs from incredibly niche micro-genres.”

After experimenting, Burnside created a custom reggae track for his team — “The Keyfactor Growth Team Anthem” — featuring a verse for each team member. It was a hit internally and quickly caught the attention of company leadership.

“One of the directors (Ryan Sanders) asked me if I’d be able to make an actual album after he heard the anthem,” Burnside said. “He was then instrumental in coming up with the lyrical themes and helping to ensure the lyrics were technically accurate.”

AI does the heavy lifting (with a lot of coaching)

While the album is AI-generated, it’s far from push-button production.

“For the other 9 songs, I took themes, genres and prompts related to Keyfactor’s particular realm of cybersecurity, and then had ChatGPT draft up some lyrics,” Burnside says. “AI isn’t great at making things human-sounding, and also doesn’t do well when you’re writing about such a niche topic, so we reworked the lyrics a lot.”

He used suno.com to generate music based on genre, tempo and feel. While some songs required “dozens of iterations,” others, like the new wave track Trust Issues, came out nearly perfect on the first try.

Certificate lifespans, quantum threats & more

The album isn’t just a novelty act; it dives into highly technical themes with surprising clarity.

“Our bread and butter is digital certificate management, so that’s one of the major themes,” Burnside said. “March to 47, my personal favorite song, is about how in 2029 public certificate lifespans will be reduced to 47 days.”

Other topics include post-quantum cryptography, a security must-have in the face of emerging quantum computing threats. Songs like The Quantum Countdown and The Death of RSA, the Fall of ECC tackle these topics with genre-spanning flair.

Mike Burnside, performance marketing manager at Keyfactor, led the creation of a cybersecurity-themed music album using AI tools and a lot of lyrical coaching. “The AI does all the real work,” he says, “but it needs a huge amount of coaching.”

Track highlights: Motown meets metadata

The album’s variety is intentional, riffing on the feel of those overstuffed “year’s greatest hits” compilation discs.

Here are just a few standout tracks:

Oops…The Cert Died Again – pop with a Britney-esque flair
99 Problems (PKI’s the Big One) – rap/hip-hop on digital trust pain points
I’ve Seen the Light (Of Quantum-Ready Cryptography) – a soul-inspired Motown throwback
Certageddon – high-angst 90s power ballad
Keys in the Void – a longer, ethereal alt-rock track
March to 47 – “like a beerhall polka with a really fun singalong chorus,” said Burnside

And of course, The Quantum Countdown — based on lyrics originally penned by team member Megan Wittenberger — brings arena rock energy to encryption discussions.

Industry feedback & a call for collaborators

Burnside says the feedback so far has been “entirely positive,” both from inside Keyfactor and across social media.

“Internally, people keep telling me about which songs are their personal favorites, or which ones their kids were playing on repeat over the weekend,” he says. “I’d really love to get more feedback from people in the industry about whether we missed the mark on anything, or even song ideas for potential future releases.”

The project may be lighthearted, but the motivation is real.

“I’m proud of what we’ve made,” Burnside said, “and I also want people in the industry — who typically don’t get a lot of recognition, despite being the backbone of every connected device in the world — to be represented in something that’s hopefully fun and, importantly, listenable.”