Reference Guide

Chapter 6: Changes Between Releases 4.1.2 and 4.1.4 57
RSA BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition 3.x to 4.1.4 Migration Guide
Asymmetric Key Assurance
The proper management and use of cryptographic keys is essential to the use of
cryptography for security. NIST provides a wealth of guidance for the management of
keys, and this is included in the FIPS 140-2 standard. Even when FIPS 140-2
compliance is not required for an application, following the NIST guidance is
recommended.
NIST plans to introduce new guidance for key establishment which will be a
requirement for FIPS 140-2 applications. This guidance will be available when the
standards are finalized. See Transition Plans for Key Establishment Schemes using
Public Key Cryptography for more information.
One central aspect of the new guidance is the requirement of cryptographic key users
to gain assurance that keys can be used safely. In particular, the guidance describes
cryptographic tests that can be performed when keys are received from a third party,
whether trusted or untrusted. This process is known as key validation.
RSA strongly recommends the inclusion of key validation where keys are imported
into applications.
Crypto-C ME 4.1.4 includes key validation functionality as described in SP 800-56A
revision 3 and SP 800-56B revision 1.
Key validation is not performed automatically in Crypto-C ME. Explicit function calls
to validate keys should be added to applications where keys are received from third
parties.
For more information, see the Asymmetric Key Management > Asymmetric Key
Assurance and Validation section in the RSA BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition
Developers Guide.