A server establishes a secure session with a client device where a private key used in the handshake when establishing the secure session is stored in a different server. During the handshake procedure, the server proxies messages to/from the different server including a set of signed cryptographic parameters signed using the private key on the different server. The different server generates the master secret, and generates and transmits the session keys to the server that are to be used in the secure session for encrypting and decrypting communication between the client device and the server.