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Here we look at the Key Distribution problems, including aspects of the
following:
- Problems of scalability
- SKIP and Photuris
- Core Based Trees
- Email - PEM and PGP
- X.509
- Session Invitation Protocol
The easiest way to distribute a key for a session is by hand (or
telephone, or any other out-of-bounds technique), so that
the channel is out of bounds from the network, and the user puts the
key in by hand. There are a number of problems with this approach
though:
- The user may make a mistake in entering the key.
- The key must be secured on its passage.
- It is not very timely
- It is labour intensive.
- It doesn't scale.
To reduce the amount of manual work, encrypted email can be used to
deliver the key, and the key can be processed automatically by the
local environment.
Jon CROWCROFT
1998-12-03