Patent ID: 7050589

Claim:
A method in a data processing system for requesting a digital certificate from a certificate authority and archiving an encryption key outside of the certificate authority, comprising: receiving, at a registration manager, a request from a user for a digital certificate, the request including an encryption key associated with the user; encrypting the user's encryption key with a first archival key; providing, by the registration manager, the user's encryption key that is encrypted with the first archival key; storing, by a recovery manager, the encrypted user's encryption key in a database; providing, by the recovery manager to the registration manager, an indication of proof of storing the encrypted user's encryption key, wherein the indication of proof is signed with a second archival key; verifying, by the registration manager, the signed indication of proof based on the first archival key; and providing, by the registration manager, the request to the certificate authority based on the verification of the signed indication of proof.