Patent ID: 8139770

Claim:
In a networked computer system, a method for managing stored cryptographic keys, comprising: (a) receiving a plurality of lower-level cryptographic keys and higher-level cryptographic keys and storing them in a database system; (b) in the database system, organizing the lower-level cryptographic keys into groups according to a defined characteristic; (c) after organizing the keys, receiving a new lower-level cryptographic key and sorting the new lower-level cryptographic key into groups according to a corresponding characteristic of the new lower-level cryptographic key; (d) designating a separate higher-level cryptographic key for performing scrambling and descrambling processes on lower-level cryptographic keys within each group; and (e) providing stored cryptographic keys in the database system to another computer in the networked computer system; and (f) rotating a selected one of the higher-level cryptographic keys, wherein rotating includes refreshing the selected higher-level cryptographic key, decrypting all lower-level cryptographic keys in the group associated with the selected higher-level cryptographic key and re-encrypting the lower-level cryptographic keys in the associated group with the new higher-level cryptographic key without altering the clear forms of the lower-level cryptographic keys in the associated group.