Apparatus, method, and computer program product for high-availability multi-agent cryptographic key recovery
US6396929B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 31, 1998 |
| Grant date | May 28, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 31, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L9/0894
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus, method, and computer program product for high-availability multi-agent cryptographic key recovery. The present invention defines a key recovery block that specifies allowable subsets of the total set of key recovery agents that can participate in a key recovery. For each subset, key recovery information is computed and stored after the subset is specified. This key recovery information is only useable by that subset because it is computed using that subset of public keys of the agents. When key recovery is initiated, a trusted processor (a key recovery coordinator) validates the contents of the key recovery block and it uses and is allowed to use any of the subsets of the agents to process the key recovery request. Since many subsets could be specified, the likelihood of key recovery failure is greatly diminished.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.