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XML Digital Signature
Software papers,
a security specification that works to
simplify the integration of PKI (public key infrastructure) and
digital
certificates with XML applications.
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The three companies have released the XML Digital Signature Software
papers specification, dubbed XKMS (XML
Key Management Specification), and will submit it to the appropriate Web
standards bodies for consideration as an open Internet standard, the
companies said in a statement. Without XKMS, applications are required
to understand the guts of the PKI architecture, which works fine if the
applications are PKI-aware, according to research
director for Internet security at certain Group in United States. But
for applications that are not PKI-aware, such as a variety of forms
applications, databases, and transaction processing, XML is a way to
avoid having to work with PKI. "Most applications now are moving to use
XML anyway, and with XKMS they won't have to understand PKI,"
XML Digital Signature Software papers
added.
XML Digital
Signature Software papers,
XKMS will still be an
alternative to PKIX because with XML, users have to agree on
schemas, and different trading communities will use different
schemas.
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Unlike PKI,
according to XML Digital Signature Software papers,
XKMS is designed to let developers integrate authentication, digital
signature, and
encryption services, such as certificate processing and revocation
status-checking in Web-based applications. This will allow developers to
avoid using proprietary software toolkits from PKI software vendors,
according to the
XML Digital Signature Software papers.
The specification works with trust functions residing on servers,
accessible via programmed
XML transactions. XKMS is compatible with standards for WSDL (Web
Services Description Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).
Basing the specification on XML and SOAP inserts security at the
language level. "At the level of XML, you have to have all of the things
associated with security processing," said a senior analyst at Forrester
Research in Cambridge, Mass. "A key management system should be built at
that level." -XML
Digital Signature Software papers
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