Patent ID: 7096354

Claim:
A method of managing a central repository database by a Central Key Authority on behalf of a plurality of account holders and a plurality of account authorities, comprising the steps of: (i) maintaining in the central repository database a list of the plurality of account holders and a list of the plurality of account authorities; (ii) associating in the central depository database, for each respective account holder; (a) a record of information pertaining to at least one account of the respective account holder, said at least one account being maintained with a respective one of the account authorities, with (b) a public key of a public-private key pair of the respective account holder; and (iii) acting on the information from the central depository database upon authorized request; wherein the at least one account of the respective account holder is already associated with the public key of the respective account holder in an account database of the respective account authority, and wherein the private key of the public-private key pair of the respective account holder is used to originate digital signatures.