Re: Password Based Encryption for RSA Keys

On Wednesday 24 October 2001 15:32, Dournaee, Blake wrote:
> In my opinion, I believe that it is a mistake to leave out something as
> important as PBE for private keys.
> For example, here we have these great XML Signature and Encryption
> standards that are virtually ASN.1 free, yet there is no easy way to keep
> a private key safe without going back to ASN.1.

Couldn't one use encrypt <ds:KeyValue/> as a <enc:EncryptedKey/> without 
resorting to ASN.1?

> For example, consider the creation of some abitrary encrypted data that
> is encrypted and packaged using XML Encryption and sent to a recipient.
> The recipient can use XML tools to pull apart the document and get to the
> <EncryptedData> elemement(s), yet the actual *decryption key* (private
> key, in the case of RSA) will likely be stored locally as a PKCS#12
> message or a PKCS#8 blob. Because there is no XML substitute for keeping
> a decryption key safe and usable, an ASN.1 parser will be required in the
> end anyhow. At this point, there is little sense to use XML Encryption
> when one can just use PKCS#7 and re-use the ASN.1 engine and throw out
> the XML tools.

Well, this is one of those issues that if you specifiy/propose some text 
for section 5, you might be able to win a consensus from the WG to adopt 
it, but absent someone, who wants it, making a substantive proposal and 
convincing others, it's not likely to happen! <smile/>

-- 

* I will be in France from 3-9 November for the W3C AC Meeting.

Joseph Reagle Jr.                 http://www.w3.org/People/Reagle/
W3C Policy Analyst                mailto:reagle@w3.org
IETF/W3C XML-Signature Co-Chair   http://www.w3.org/Signature/
W3C XML Encryption Chair          http://www.w3.org/Encryption/2001/

Received on Wednesday, 31 October 2001 17:47:27 UTC