Method and apparatus for managing a key management system

Abstract

A network system for key management, including a server, a key management system providing process logic for key management system management located on the server, a key management system storage providing a secure data storage for the key management system, an application using the key management system to manage an application key, and an interface providing a means for managing the key management system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. non-Provisional Application Ser. No. 10 / 037,153 filed Dec. 21, 2001 entitled “Method and System for Initializing a Key Management System”, in the names of Chui-Shan Teresa Lam and Jameel ur Rahman Syed.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION [0002] Connection of company networks to the Internet has resulted in a requirement for increased network security. This has resulted in some software systems, i.e., Financial Software Systems, requiring security information as part of their operation. Security information includes such information as encryption / decryption keys for encrypted databases, administrator passwords to access external resources such as a directory server, etc. Security information is typically stored in a configuration file that is accessible by the software systems. [0003] While security information is used to ensure the security of particular software systems and the data they use, security inform...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to an apparatus for retrieving a value secured in a key management system comprising for receiving a request for the value secured in the key management system, means for searching for a key corresponding to the value in a decoded key list, and means for retrieving a tuple corresponding to the value, if the key corresponding to the value is in the decoded key list.

[0013] In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to an apparatus for retrieving a value secured in a key management system comprising means for receiving a request for the value secured in the key management system, means for retrieving a serialized file from a key management system storage, means for de-serializing the serialized file producing a de-serialized file, means for decoding an encoded key list i

Problems solved by technology

This has resulted in some software systems, i.e., Financial Software Systems, requiring security information as part of their operation.

While security information is used to ensure the security of particular software systems and the data they use, security information itself is typically not secure.

While this protects the security information when it is not being used, storing the information in encrypted form does not protect the security information when it is accessed.

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