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Definition
A master key is a cryptographic key used only for the protection of other keys.
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A master key is a cryptographic key (typically a symmetric key (Symmetric Cryptosystem)) whose sole purpose is to protect other keys, such as session keys, while those keys are in storage, in use, or in transit. This protection may take one of two forms: the master key may be used to encrypt the other keys, or the master key may be used to generate the other keys (e.g., if the master key is \({k}_{0}\), session key \({k}_{1}\) may be formed by hashing (Hash Function) the concatenation of \({k}_{0}\) and the digit “1,” session key \({k}_{2}\) may be formed by hashing the concatenation of \({k}_{0}\) and the digit “2,” and so on).
Master keys are usually not themselves cryptographically protected; rather, they are distributed manually or initially installed in a system and protected by procedural controls and/or by physical...
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Menezes A, van Oorschot P, Vanstone S (1997) Handbook of applied cryptography. CRC, Boca Raton, FL
Schneier B (1996) Applied cryptography: protocols, algorithms, and source code in C, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Adams, C. (2011). Master Key. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_86
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_86
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5905-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5906-5
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