Hardware devices traditionally provide secure communications only between network nodes, but offer little or no security between end-users and the nodes. With the SKMS based upon the same standards and interfaces, interoperability between this leading private sector offering and government certification authorities is possible. Development of cross-certification capabilities between the SKMS and the government PKI will represent and important step toward providing secure data communications between users or private and public sector certification authorities. SKMS users will be assigned both private and public encryption keys. Private keys are used to decrypt and sign messages, while public keys are used to encrypt and verify signatures.
Encryption ensures the privacy of information on any transport or storage medium.
For example, suppliers could retrieve customers' public keys from this centralized directory to send confidential pricing information to customers. The information can then be sent securely over a public network. The customers would use their private key installed on their workstation to decrypt the data from the supplier. SKMS is based upon Entrust software developed by NorTel. The software supports IBM Windows, Macintosh or UNIX platforms.