[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 34155]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-16187]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Cryptographic Key Management Workshop

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
announces a workshop to discuss the development of Cryptographic Key 
Management guidance for Federal Government applications. The workshop 
will be held to review and discuss draft documentation that will be 
available prior to the workshop.

DATES: The Key Management Workshop will be held on November 1-2, 2001, 
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The Key Management workshop will be held in the 
Administration Building (Bldg. 101), Lecture Room A, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Further information may be obtained 
from the Key Management web site at http://www.nist.gov/kms or by 
contacting Elaine Barker, National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, Building 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8930, Gaithersburg, MD 
20899-8930; telephone 301-975-2911; Fax 301-948-1233, or email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Electronic Commerce needs well-established 
cryptographic schemes that can provide such services as data integrity 
and confidentiality. Symmetric encryption schemes such as Triple DES, 
as defined in FIPS 46-3, and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 
make attractive choices for the provision of these services. Systems 
using symmetric techniques are efficient, and their security 
requirements are well understood. Furthermore, these schemes have been 
or will be standardized to facilitate interoperability between systems. 
However, the implementation of such schemes requires the establishment 
of a shared secret key in advance. As the size of a key management 
system or the number of entities using a system grows, the need for key 
establishment can lead to a key management problem.
    In 1997, NIST announced plans to develop a public key-based key 
management standard and solicited comments from the public. In February 
of 2000, a public workshop was held to examine key establishment 
techniques that are currently available and to discuss the approach to 
the development of a Key Management Standard for Federal Government 
use. The workshop attendees suggested (1) the development of a 
``framework'' document that discusses the documents to be developed and 
their proposed content, (2) the identification of key establishment 
schemes, and (3) the development of key management guidance.
    Following the workshop, the framework document was prepared and 
made available for review on the Key Management web page (http://www.nist.gov/kms). A key establishment scheme definition document and a 
key management guidance document are currently under development. 
Initial drafts of these documents will be made available on the Key 
Management web page at least one month prior to the workshop and will 
be the subjects under discussion during that workshop.
    For planning purposes, advance registration is encouraged. To 
register, please fax your name, address, telephone, fax and e-mail 
address to 301-926-2733 (Attn: Key Management Workshop) by October 19, 
2000. Registration questions should be addressed to Vickie Harris on 
301-975-2034. Registration will also be available at the door, space 
permitting. The workshop will be open to the public and is free of 
charge.

    Authority: This work is being initiated pursuant to NIST's 
responsibilities under the Computer Security Act of 1987, the 
Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996, Executive 
Order 13011, and OMB Circular A-130.

    Dated: June 21, 2001.
Karen H. Brown,
Acting Director, NIST.
[FR Doc. 01-16187 Filed 6-26-01; 8:45 am]
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