[760] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Difference in terms
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lutz Donnerhacke)
Thu May 8 15:59:42 1997
Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 20:58:59 +0100
From: Lutz Donnerhacke <lutz@as-node.jena.thur.de>
To: cryptography@c2.net
In-Reply-To: <199705071650.MAA27175@crypto.com>
On Wed, 7 May 1997, Matt Blaze wrote:
> What's the difference between "key recovery", "key backup" and "key
> escrow"? For the purpose of understanding the basic problems (as
> opposed to the implementation-specific problems), there probably is
> no difference.
"key backup" is saveing the key on a different location in my own enviroment.
"key recovery" is storing the key on a different enviroment so that only
I can get my key back.
"key escrow" is storing the key on a different enviroment so that the
other guy can get my key.
shorter:
key recovery is if I can get my key
key escrow is if you can get my key
"key backup" should be the state of art in key handling.
"key recovery" is necessary for important keys.
"key escrow" must be avioded.
PS: A lot of people confuse these terms in order to establish key escrow.
