Philip Hallam-Baker (VeriSign, Inc.) posted an announcement for a new mailing list to support the work of anyone interested in the development/interoperability/standardization of XKMS. The "XML Key Management Specification (XKMS)" defines protocols "for distributing and registering public keys, suitable for use in conjunction with the proposed standard for XML Signature developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and an anticipated companion standard for XML encryption." An XKMS interest group meeting will be held in Cambridge MA on March 01, 2001, coordinated with meetings of the W3C XML Encryption Working Group [the March 1st XML Encryption FTF] and the OASIS XML Security Services Technical Committee.
From the 'XML Trust Center': "The XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) is set to revolutionize public key infrastructure (PKI) by providing new levels of ease and interoperability to developers implementing PKI. Public key infrastructure (PKI) is more important than ever, as companies find themselves exchanging increasing amounts of information electronically. The requirements of interoperability in today's technology landscape has driven many companies to adopt XML as a medium for electronic communication. But along with automated communication come risks, risks which can only be mitigated using PKI. However, PKI has proved difficult to implement effectively in many applications. To overcome this difficulty, XKMS combines the interoperability of XML with the security of PKI to create an easy-to-use method for securing applications... The XKMS initiative makes PKI widely available by enabling developers to rely on Internet 'trust utilities' to do the hard work of PKI. XKMS trust utilities reside on the open Internet and can be accessed by any application. Instead of coding complex PKI functions into applications, developers simply use XML to 'hook in' to an Internet trust utility, which performs most of the complex tasks related to key management. By delegating the complexity of PKI to trust utilities, developers are able to focus on core applications. Using XKMS, key management services can be rolled out more rapidly and included in wider variety of applications. Furthermore, the small footprint charateristic of XKMS applications means that PKI can be enabled on devices with limited memory."
From the announcement:
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:41:20 -0800 From: Philip Hallam-Baker <pbaker@verisign.com> To: "Security-Services (E-mail)" <security-services@lists.oasis-open.org>, "'Xml-Encryption (E-mail)" <xml-encryption@w3.org>, "XML-Signature (E-mail)" <w3c-ietf-xmldsig@w3.org>, "Xkms-Developer (E-mail)" <xkms-developer@yahoogroups.com> Subject: XKMS Interest Group / Informal BOF 1st March, Cambridge MA
This message is being sent to the XML Encryption, Signature working groups, the OASIS TC and xkms-developer.
All,
Those interested in the development/interoperability/standardisation of XKMS are invited to attend an interest group meeting on March 1st in Cambridge MA at a time to be announced. We intend to coordinate with the location of the XML Encryption and OASIS SSTC meetings on the 1st and 2nd [March 1-2, 2001] which many people are likely to be in town for.
We propose a meeting of one or two hours starting in the evening followed by a 'no host' dinner at a convenient restaurant nearby.
In addition we have set up a mailing list for XKMS developers/interoperability testers. Details are available from http://www.xmltrustcenter.org/xkms/forums.htm or send mail to mailto:xkms-developer-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Agenda
1) Introductions
2) Brief statements of interest
3) XML Trust Services Roadmap (PHB)
4) Standards strategy discussion
Securing messages of XML Protocol/SOAP
Using WSDL to specify required security profile
5) Additional items TBS
If you would like to attend the meeting please RSVP my assistant Kate Schott, mailto:kschott@verisign.com or telephone 781 245 6996 x221 stating that you with to attend the meeting, the dinner or both. Please send a note to me if you would like to add an item to the adgenda.
Phill
Phillip Hallam-Baker
Principal Scientist
VeriSign Inc.
Email: pbaker@verisign.com
Tel: 781 245 6996 x227
