Patent ID: 8509448

Claim:
A method for secure transfer of symmetric encryption keys, the method comprising: at a sending device: generating a first and a second key management message (KMM), wherein the first KMM includes a first key encryption key and a KMM encryption key, and the second KMM includes a set of symmetric encryption keys; encrypting the set of symmetric encryption keys, included in the second KMM, using the first key encryption key; encrypting the first key encryption key and the KMM encryption key, included in the first KMM, using a first public key of a receiving device; encrypting the second KMM using the KMM encryption key to generate an encrypted second KMM; and sending the first KMM and the encrypted second KMM to the receiving device; wherein the first key encryption key and the KMM encryption key are the same key; wherein the first KMM and the encrypted second KMM is sent to the receiving device in one combined KMM; further comprising the sending device digitally signing the combined KMM before sending the combined KMM to the receiving device; further comprising: at the sending device: generating a random encrypting key; and encrypting the combined KMM using the random encrypting key before sending the combined KMM to the receiving device; further comprising: encrypting the random encrypting key using a second public key of the receiving device to generate an encrypted random encrypting key; and appending the encrypted random encrypting key to the combined KMM before sending the combined KMM to the receiving device.