Compliance Defects in Public Key Cryptography

Public-key cryptography has low infrastructural overhead because public-key users bear a substantial but hidden administrative burden. A public-key security system trusts its users to validate each others' public keys rigorously and to manage their own private keys securely. Both tasks are hard to do well, but public-key security systems lack a centralized infrastructure for enforcing users' discipline. A "compliance defect" in a cryptosystem is such a rule of operation that is both difficult to follow and unenforceable. We present five compliance defects that are inherent in public-key cryptography, and argue that these defects make public-key cryptography more suitable for server-to-server security than for desktop applications.