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PublicKey Info Base » History » Version 2

Yingdi Yu, 07/07/2014 07:23 PM

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Public key Info Base (PIB) Service
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## Public Key Info Management 
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NDN data packets are secured through digital signatures.
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In order to generate a valid signature, an NDN application needs to know not only the correct key to use but also the correct public key information that should be put into the `KeyLocator` of a data packet. 
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The information needs to be managed locally on the system where the application is running.
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The information related to keys is managed at three granularities: identities, keys, and certificates. 
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A key is always associated with a namespace, called "identity".
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An identity however may have more than one keys bound. 
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Among these keys, only one is the default key of the identity.
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If only identity is provided when signing a packet, the default key of the identity will be used to sign the packet.
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A certificate is always associated with the key in the certificate
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If a certificate is provided when signing a packet, the corresponding private key should be used to sign the packet 
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and the name of the certificate name may be put into the `KeyLocator` of the packet.
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A key may have more than one certificates (e.g., certificates may be issued by different parties).
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Among these certificates, only one is the default certificate of the key.
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The default certificate of the default key of an identity is the default certificate of the identity.
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If only identity is provided when signing a packet, the name of the default certificate of the identity may be put into the `KeyLocator` of the packet.
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All the information may be accessed by different APIs and applications on the same system, therefore it is desirable to make the information provisioning as a system service. 
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Generating a correct signature does not only requires the access to the private key,
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A valid signature may also 
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Public key information may be accessed by different APIs and applications on the same system.
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The information may include: the name of the public key, the identity represent