Michael Munzert

A Modular Approach to Key Distribution

The purpose of key management is to provide procedures for handling cryptographic keying material to be used in symmetric or asymmetric cryptographic mechanisms. As a result of varied design decisions appropriate to different conditions, a large variety of key distribution protocols exist. There is a need to explicate key distribution protocols in a way that allows to understand which results they achieve and on which assumptions they depend. We define a modular system that can be used to transform cryptographic protocols into a generic form and that has proven to be useful in the analysis and the construction of such protocols.