Patent ID: 8724815

Claim:
A method of managing key lifecycle in a global distributed system, the method comprising: generating a plurality of keys that each have a pre-assigned lifecycle time and a plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases determined based on the pre-assigned lifecycle time, the plurality of keys being associated with lifecycle information that identifies the plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases with respect to the pre-assigned lifecycle time of a key of the plurality of keys; distributing the plurality of keys to one or more key-distribution caches during a caching phase in the plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases, the key-distribution caches configured to hold each of the plurality of keys until a fetching phase in the plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases of each of the plurality of keys; during the fetching phase of each of the plurality of keys, enabling a ciphertext producer to obtain a first subset of the plurality of keys from the one or more key-distribution caches and a ciphertext consumer to obtain a second subset of the plurality of keys from the one or more key-distribution caches; during a producing phase in the plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases, enabling the ciphertext producer to produce one or more messages using one or more keys within the first subset; and during a consuming phase in the plurality of pre-defined lifecycle phases, enabling the ciphertext consumer to consume the one or more produced messages using one or more keys within the second subset, wherein the ciphertext consumer is able to obtain the second subset during the fetching phase.