Simple public key infrastructure (SPKI, pronounced spoo-key) was an attempt to overcome the complexity of traditional X.509public key infrastructure. It was specified in two Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) specifications—RFC 2692 and RFC 2693—from the IETF SPKI working group. These two RFCs never passed the "experimental" maturity level of the IETF's RFC status. The SPKI specification defined an authorization certificate format, providing for the delineation of privileges, rights or other such attributes (called authorizations) and binding them to a public key. In 1996, SPKI was merged with Simple Distributed Security Infrastructure[1] (SDSI, pronounced sudsy) by Ron Rivest and Butler Lampson.
The original SPKI had identified principals only as public keys but allowed binding authorizations to those keys and delegation of authorization from one key to another. The encoding used was attribute:value pairing, similar to RFC 822 headers.
The original SDSI bound local names (of individuals or groups) to public keys (or other names), but carried authorization only in Access Control Lists (ACLs) and did not allow for delegation of subsets of a principal's authorization. The encoding used was standard S-expression. Sample RSA public key in SPKI in "advanced transport format" (for actual transport the structure would be Base64-encoded):
(public-key (rsa-pkcs1-md5 (e #03#) (n |ANHCG85jXFGmicr3MGPj53FYYSY1aWAue6PKnpFErHhKMJa4HrK4WSKTO YTTlapRznnELD2D7lWd3Q8PD0lyi1NJpNzMkxQVHrrAnIQoczeOZuiz/yY VDzJ1DdiImixyb/Jyme3D0UiUXhd6VGAz0x0cgrKefKnmjy410Kro3uW1| )))
The combined SPKI/SDSI allows the naming of principals, creation of named groups of principals and the delegation of rights or other attributes from one principal to another. It includes a language for expression of authorization - a language that includes a definition of "intersection" of authorizations. It also includes the notion of threshold subject - a construct granting authorizations (or delegations) only when of of the listed subjects concur (in a request for access or a delegation of rights). SPKI/SDSI uses S-expression encoding, but specifies a binary form that is extremely easy to parse - an LR(0) grammar - called Canonical S-expressions.
SPKI/SDSI does not define a role for a commercial certificate authority (CA). In fact, one premise behind SPKI is that a commercial CA serves no useful purpose.[2] As a result of that, SPKI/SDSI is deployed primarily in closed solutions and in demonstration projects of academic interest. Another side-effect of this design element is that it is difficult to monetize SPKI/SDSI by itself.[citation needed] It can be a component of some other product, but there is no business case for developing SPKI/SDSI tools and services except as part of some other product.
The most prominent general deployments of SPKI/SDSI are E-speak, a middleware product from HP that used SPKI/SDSI for access control of web methods, and UPnP Security, that uses an XML dialect of SPKI/SDSI[citation needed] for access control of web methods, delegation of rights among network participants, etc.
^"SDSI - A Simple Distributed Security Infrastructure". people.csail.mit.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
^Ellison, Carl (1996). "Establishing Identity Without Certification Authorities". 6th USENIX Security Symposium. CiteSeerX10.1.1.31.7263.
External linksedit
SPKI homepage,
JSDSI (open source development effort)
CDSA (open source development effort).
October 28, 2023
simple, public, infrastructure, simple, public, infrastructure, spki, pronounced, spoo, attempt, overcome, complexity, traditional, public, infrastructure, specified, internet, engineering, task, force, ietf, request, comments, specifications, 2692, 2693, from. Simple public key infrastructure SPKI pronounced spoo key was an attempt to overcome the complexity of traditional X 509 public key infrastructure It was specified in two Internet Engineering Task Force IETF Request for Comments RFC specifications RFC 2692 and RFC 2693 from the IETF SPKI working group These two RFCs never passed the experimental maturity level of the IETF s RFC status The SPKI specification defined an authorization certificate format providing for the delineation of privileges rights or other such attributes called authorizations and binding them to a public key In 1996 SPKI was merged with Simple Distributed Security Infrastructure 1 SDSI pronounced sudsy by Ron Rivest and Butler Lampson Contents 1 History and overview 2 See also 3 Notes 4 External linksHistory and overview editThe original SPKI had identified principals only as public keys but allowed binding authorizations to those keys and delegation of authorization from one key to another The encoding used was attribute value pairing similar to RFC 822 headers The original SDSI bound local names of individuals or groups to public keys or other names but carried authorization only in Access Control Lists ACLs and did not allow for delegation of subsets of a principal s authorization The encoding used was standard S expression Sample RSA public key in SPKI in advanced transport format for actual transport the structure would be Base64 encoded public key rsa pkcs1 md5 e 03 n ANHCG85jXFGmicr3MGPj53FYYSY1aWAue6PKnpFErHhKMJa4HrK4WSKTO YTTlapRznnELD2D7lWd3Q8PD0lyi1NJpNzMkxQVHrrAnIQoczeOZuiz yY VDzJ1DdiImixyb Jyme3D0UiUXhd6VGAz0x0cgrKefKnmjy410Kro3uW1 The combined SPKI SDSI allows the naming of principals creation of named groups of principals and the delegation of rights or other attributes from one principal to another It includes a language for expression of authorization a language that includes a definition of intersection of authorizations It also includes the notion of threshold subject a construct granting authorizations or delegations only when K displaystyle K nbsp of N displaystyle N nbsp of the listed subjects concur in a request for access or a delegation of rights SPKI SDSI uses S expression encoding but specifies a binary form that is extremely easy to parse an LR 0 grammar called Canonical S expressions SPKI SDSI does not define a role for a commercial certificate authority CA In fact one premise behind SPKI is that a commercial CA serves no useful purpose 2 As a result of that SPKI SDSI is deployed primarily in closed solutions and in demonstration projects of academic interest Another side effect of this design element is that it is difficult to monetize SPKI SDSI by itself citation needed It can be a component of some other product but there is no business case for developing SPKI SDSI tools and services except as part of some other product The most prominent general deployments of SPKI SDSI are E speak a middleware product from HP that used SPKI SDSI for access control of web methods and UPnP Security that uses an XML dialect of SPKI SDSI citation needed for access control of web methods delegation of rights among network participants etc See also editSPKACNotes edit SDSI A Simple Distributed Security Infrastructure people csail mit edu Retrieved 2017 03 15 Ellison Carl 1996 Establishing Identity Without Certification Authorities 6th USENIX Security Symposium CiteSeerX 10 1 1 31 7263 External links editSPKI homepage JSDSI open source development effort CDSA open source development effort Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Simple public key infrastructure amp oldid 1046029877, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
