Public-Key Cryptography Standards


Public-Key Cryptography Standards

(cryptography, standard)(PKCS) A set of standards forpublic-key cryptography, developed by RSA Data Security, Inc. in cooperation with an informal consortium, originallyincluding Apple, Microsoft, DEC, Lotus, Sun andMIT. The PKCS have been cited by the OSI Implementers' Workshop (OIW) as a method for implementation of OSIstandards.

PKCS includes both algorithm-specific andalgorithm-independent implementation standards. Manyalgorithms are supported, including RSA and Diffie-Hellmankey exchange, however, only the latter two are specificallydetailed. PKCS also defines an algorithm-independent syntaxfor digital signatures, digital envelopes, and extendeddigital certificates; this enables someone implementing anycryptographic algorithm whatsoever to conform to a standardsyntax, and thus achieve interoperability.

E-mail: pkcs@rsa.com.