Towards logically and physically secure public-key infrastructures

Abstract

The bootstrapping of security mechanisms to large scale information systems is an important and critical exercise. It is conjectured that the design of bootstrapping procedure is effective, if every such bootstrapping procedure affects (or alters) the behaviour (represented by input data) of all system users (certificate authorities and the users of the public key infrastructure (PKI)). This paper aims to provide public verification for every use of certifying private keys, which are assumed to be stored in multiple physical locations. It provides abstract descriptions of protocols to achieve effective bootstrapping of security mechanisms to large scale PKIs.