Distributed cryptographic management for computer systems

Abstract

An administrator installs a key management agent on a previously approved client machine. The agent is started on the client machine, which posts requests for keys to a central key management service. The central key management service logs requests posted to it by clients, and checks for existing pre-approval records. If none are found, a message is typically sent to an approver for the requesting client machine. When a request is verified as approved, the request is flagged for further processing. The supported systems continuously or periodically look for records flagged for processing, use requests to generate keys and other appropriate elements for the requesting client machine, and post keys and other elements to the key management database. The key management agent polls the central key management service periodically until finding the expected key file, which it downloads and installs into a protected file location on the client machine. The key management agent periodically sends status messages to the central key management service, which tracks expected behavior of the client machine and/or key management agent.