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Key escrow (also known as a "fair" cryptosystem)[citation needed] is an arrangement in which the keys needed to decrypt encrypted data are held in escrow so that, under certain circumstances, an authorized third party may gain access to those keys. These third parties may include businesses, who may want access to employees' secure business-related communications, or governments, who may wish to be able to view the contents of encrypted communications (also known as exceptional access).[1]
The technical problem is a largely structural one. Access to protected information must be provided only to the intended recipient and at least one third party. The third party should be permitted access only under carefully controlled conditions, as for instance, a court order. Thus far, no system design has been shown to meet this requirement fully on a technical basis alone. All proposed systems also require correct functioning of some social linkage, as for instance the process of request for access, examination of request for 'legitimacy' (as by a court), and granting of access by technical personnel charged with access control. All such linkages / controls have serious problems from a system design security perspective. Systems in which the key may not be changed easily are rendered especially vulnerable as the accidental release of the key will result in many devices becoming totally compromised, necessitating an immediate key change or replacement of the system.
On a national level, key escrow is controversial in many countries for at least two reasons. One involves mistrust of the security of the structural escrow arrangement. Many countries have a long history of less than adequate protection of others' information by assorted organizations, public and private, even when the information is held only under an affirmative legal obligation to protect it from unauthorized access. Another is technical concerns for the additional vulnerabilities likely to be introduced by supporting key escrow operations.[1] Thus far, no key escrow system has been designed which meets both objections and nearly all have failed to meet even one.
Key escrow is proactive, anticipating the need for access to keys; a retroactive alternative is key disclosure law, where users are required to surrender keys upon demand by law enforcement, or else face legal penalties. Key disclosure law avoids some of the technical issues and risks of key escrow systems, but also introduces new risks like loss of keys and legal issues such as involuntary self-incrimination. The ambiguous term key recovery is applied to both types of systems.
^ abAbelson, Harold; Anderson, Ross; Bellovin, Steven M.; Benaloh, Josh; Blaze, Matt; Diffie, Whitfield; Gilmore, John; Green, Matthew; Landau, Susan; Neumann, Peter G.; Rivest, Ronald L. (2015-11-17). "Keys under doormats: mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all data and communications". Journal of Cybersecurity: tyv009. doi:10.1093/cybsec/tyv009. hdl:1721.1/128748. ISSN 2057-2085.
Keyescrow (also known as a "fair" cryptosystem)[citation needed] is an arrangement in which the keys needed to decrypt encrypted data are held in escrow...
bypassing the escrow in real time. In 1997, a group of leading cryptographers published a paper, "The Risks of Key Recovery, KeyEscrow, and Trusted Third-Party...
proactive alternative to key disclosure law is keyescrow law, where the government holds in escrow a copy of all cryptographic keys in use, but is only permitted...
company's half-key, while the company would be unable to abuse the keyescrow to access users' data without the government's half-key. Experts were not...
cryptography Identity based encryption (IBE) Keyescrow PGP word list Pretty Good Privacy Pseudonymity Public key fingerprint Quantum cryptography Secure Shell...
security of data processing systems. Some of these include the use of keyescrow systems. Some examples of FIPS Codes for geographical areas include FIPS...
signing key is lost or compromised, it can be revoked to mitigate any future transactions. If an encryption key is lost, a backup or keyescrow should...
also tried to subvert cryptography through schemes such as Skipjack and keyescrow. It was also not widely known that all communications were logged by government...
consistently opposed the various keyescrow proposals suggested by the government." According to Microsoft, the key's symbol was "_NSAKEY" because the...
Generator (APG) 1993 FIPS PUB 185 Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES) 1994, a keyescrow system that provides for decryption of telecommunications when lawfully...
Research Council Press Release". archive.epic.org. "The Risks of Key Recovery, KeyEscrow, & Trusted Third Party Encryption". Archived from the original...
number generator avoids escrowkeys by choosing a point Q on the elliptic curve as verifiably random. Intentional use of escrowkeys can provide for back...
Act investigation regarding the PGP software. Export of cryptography Keyescrow and Clipper Chip Digital Millennium Copyright Act Digital Rights Management...
technical exploitation of clients, poor quality random number generators, or keyescrow. E2EE also does not address traffic analysis, which relates to things...
If all of the third parties cooperate they can recover the private key, so keyescrow problems arise only if all of the third parties are untrustworthy...
"Software Escrow whitepaper" (PDF). UK: Virtual DCS. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-02-04. Retrieved 2015-02-04. "Software Escrow: Is Escrow dead...
the Vice President Commercial Policy Press release The Risks of Key Recovery, KeyEscrow, & Trusted Third Party Encryption Archived June 14, 2007, at the...
cryptography is useful in keyescrow services where a company can meet a threshold to decrypt a ciphertext version of private key. This way a company can...
are supported, all with an optional escrow recovery key: TPM only TPM + PIN TPM + PIN + USB Key TPM + USB Key USB Key Password only BitLocker is a logical...
workstation or a Domino server. "The Swedes discover Lotus Notes has keyescrow!" The Risks Digest, Volume 19, Issue 52, 1997-12-24 Only NSA can listen...
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