Understanding Key Rings

The Key Ring object is provided to define the specific use case and to reference the keys that are used over time for a given business use case. Each key ring references a specific business object, which defines all the rules related to managing the keys. For example:

• If the key ring is used to define a pair of private and public keys, then the business object includes actions for generating a key pair and for viewing the public key.
• If the key ring is used to capture the public key of a third party, then the business object includes actions for capturing the external public key.
• Each key ring defines the rules related to the possible lifecycle of the keys.

The following sections include information about the functionality provided to support different key ring classes for particular use cases.