Simple Public Key Infrastructure (spki)




Charter



Status: Concluded February, 2001 







Chair(s):







 Steve Bellovin 



 Perry Metzger 







Description of Working Group:



Many Internet protocols and applications which use the Internet employ







public key technology for security purposes and require a public key



infrastructure to manage public keys.







The task of the working group will be to develop Internet standards



for an IETF sponsored public key certificate format, associated



signature and other formats, and key acquisition protocols.  The key



certificate format and associated protocols are to be simple to



understand, implement, and use. For purposes of the working group, the



resulting formats and protocols are to be known as the Simple Public



Key Infrastructure, or SPKI.







The SPKI is intended to provide mechanisms to support security in a



wide range of internet applications, including IPSEC protocols,



encrypted electronic mail and WWW documents, payment protocols, and



any other application which will require the use of public key



certificates and the ability to access them. It is intended that the



Simple Public Key Infrastructure will support a range of trust models.

Request for Comments:

  • RFC2692 SPKI Requirements (Experimental)
  • RFC2693 SPKI Certificate Theory (Experimental)