Secure communication in internet environments: a hierarchical key management scheme for end-to-end encryption

A hierarchical approach for key management is presented which utilizes the existing network specific protocols at the lower levels and protocols between authentication servers and/or control centers of different networks at the higher levels. Details of this approach are discussed for specific illustrative scenarios to demonstrate the implementation simplicity. A formal verification of the security of the resulting system in the sense of protecting the privacy of privileged information is also conducted by an axiomatic procedure utilizing certain combinatory logic principles. This approach is general and can be used for verifying the security of other existing key management schemes.<>