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RE: I-D Action:draft-ietf-pkix-ta-mgmt-problem-statement-00.txt



Title: RE: I-D Action:draft-ietf-pkix-ta-mgmt-problem-statement-00.txt

Carl,

 

One of the questions I would like to see asked is whether there is a requirement for symmetric key trust anchors.  Although the draft problem statement says “A trust anchor represents an authoritative entity via a public key and associated data”, there is no reason that an authoritative entity could not be represented by a symmetric key and associated data.  The purpose of the public key TA is to authenticate messages from the authoritative entity, and a symmetric TA with MAC could be used for the same purpose.  Many devices today are provisioned with symmetric authority keys (admin passwords, community strings, smart card manufacturer keys, etc), and it may (or may not – that’s the purpose of discussion) facilitate transition to standardize a mechanism to permit devices provisioned with only a symmetric key to authenticate TAM message content.

 

Even if there is consensus not to consider symmetric TAs, it would be more accurate to say “A trust anchor represents an authoritative entity via a cryptographic key and associated data.  This document discusses only public keys as trust anchors; symmetric key trust anchors are not considered.”

 

Dave

 

 


From: owner-ietf-pkix@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ietf-pkix@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Wallace
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 11:09 AM
To: ietf-pkix@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: I-D Action:draft-ietf-pkix-ta-mgmt-problem-statement-00.txt

 

 

This draft is mostly the same as the -02 draft that had been submitted for the TAM BOF.  A revised draft will be submitted next month to address comments collected from the various TAM straw poll threads over the past few weeks or any comments relative to this draft between now and then.

Carl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ietf-pkix@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:owner-ietf-pkix@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Internet-Drafts@xxxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:20 AM
> To: i-d-announce@xxxxxxxx
> Cc: ietf-pkix@xxxxxxx
> Subject: I-D Action:draft-ietf-pkix-ta-mgmt-problem-statement-00.txt
>
> A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line
> Internet-Drafts directories.
> This draft is a work item of the Public-Key Infrastructure
> (X.509) Working Group of the IETF.
>
>
>       Title           : Trust Anchor Management Problem Statement
>       Author(s)       : R. Reddy, C. Wallace
>       Filename        :
> draft-ietf-pkix-ta-mgmt-problem-statement-00.txt
>       Pages           : 14
>       Date            : 2007-12-20
>
> A trust anchor represents an authoritative entity via a
> public key and associated data.  The public key is used to
> verify digital signatures and the associated data is used to
> constrain the types of information for which the trust anchor
> is authoritative.