Zyfer's StealthKey Management for frequent rekeying
draft-helbig-stealthkey-03

Abstract

This document describes a key management, designated as StealthKey Management. StealthKey Management establishes short-term keys which are derived from a common long-term key in two entities, referred to as sender and receiver, for symmetric encryption algorithms and cryptographic authentication protocols based on a common secret. Stealthkey Management covers two main parts: - Independent generation of the short-term keys by the sender and receiver from either the common long-term key and the time, or from the common long-term key and a sequence number. - Synchronization of the short-term keys between both entities. The important advantages of using StealthKey Management for message encryption and authentication are the ability to change the short- term keys frequently, without exchanges between sender and receiver and the independence of other applications for the key change process (in band). A commonly used term for key change is rekeying. The required long-term key can be established remotely through the use of known symmetric or asymmetric key protocols, or locally via manual setup. StealthKey Management improves the performance of any of today's key management protocols, by extending the protocol with the frequent changing of keys.

Authors

Derek Au
Peter Balke
Hugo Fruehauf
Christina Helbig
Klaus Helbig

(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)