[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [IETF-PKIX] Multiple certificates for same key?



>Does it make things slightly harder to process, or does it actually break
>X.509?

>Consider the scenario of a person who wishes to manage different
>"certificate profiles" but not have to worry about different keys.  For
>example, he may want to sign messages as one person within the company,
>using a cert with his Org, OrgUnit and Title, but outside the company he
>wants to use a simpler cert that just has his name and email address in
>it.  Why should both of those certs be forced to use different keys?


My image of these processes is a keycentric one. 

If you get a signature, accepting the signature involves a) the cryptographic correctness of the signature and b) my policy accepting the certificate given. If one has 2 certificates for one key, the decision will not depend on the key only, but also on the certificate given. I consider this to be not ok. I would like to be able to use protocols that do not need to provide me with a suitable certificate - I could have a local cache or so. Carrying certificates around is not so great, considering the space such things use to take. Assuming a working infrastructure, I could ask some CA-service to deliver a cert if I don't have it in my cache. If there would be more than one, leading to different trust decisions, this would be a drawback. 

Peter
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lipp;Peter;;
FN:Peter Lipp
ORG:Styria;
TITLE:
TEL;WORK;VOICE:+43 316 873 5513
TEL;HOME;VOICE:
TEL;VOICE:Graz
TEL;WORK;FAX:A-8042
ADR;WORK:;;;;;;
LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:=0D=0A,  =0D=0A
EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:plipp@iaik.tu-graz.ac.at
REV:19980304T101555Z
END:VCARD

Attachment: smime.p7s
Description: application/pkcs7-signature