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Home ยป Compliance Defects in Public Key Cryptography
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Compliance Defects in Public Key Cryptography

Authors: 

Don Davis, Independent Consultant

Abstract: 

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.

Don Davis, Independent Consultant

BibTeX
@inproceedings {260648,
author = {Don Davis},
title = {Compliance Defects in Public Key Cryptography},
booktitle = {6th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 96)},
year = {1996},
address = {San Jose, CA},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/6th-usenix-security-symposium/compliance-defects-public-key-cryptography},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jul,
}
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Paper: 
http://usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/sec96/full_papers/davis/davis.ps
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