Framework on Key Compromise, Key Loss & Key Rollover PKIX WG Denis Pinkas. Bull SAS.

PKIX New Work Item Proposal The goal is to develop an Informational RFC to address cases of : key compromise, key loss, and key rollover.

Detailed scope (1 / 2) One goal of the document is to present a framework to assist the writers of policy or practice statements and the designers of a Public Key Infrastructure to prepare disaster recovery plans in case of a private key compromise or a private key loss. The framework will provide a comprehensive list of potential key compromise or key loss conditions that (at the discretion of policy or practice statements writers) should be considered so that it is possible to nicely recover from situations which normally should not happen, but might happen.

Detailed scope (2 / 2) Since keys do not last for ever, key rollover should be planned in advance and guidance is also necessary. The keys to be considered as the keys from: end-users, Certification Authorities, Revocation Authorities, Attribute Authorities, and Time Stamping Units.

Relationship with RFC 4210 There is no intent to develop any new protocol. RFC 4210 already contains a protocol for key rollover (“old by new”, “new by old” and “new by new”). However the text from RFC 4210 describes only what a CA should do, but does not say how a relying party should use the information issued by a CA. The proposed wor item would yield a document providing more details and guidance, by explaining how to achieve root key rollover using the information specified in RFC 4210.

The Way Forward If the work item is accepted by the PKIX WG, then an editing team is ready to progress the document. It would be composed of: Denis Pinkas (lead editor), Arshad Noor (co-editor), Joel Kazin (co-editor).