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Difficulty: MediumPublic Key Infrastructure and Certificate Management

A enterprise healthcare organization is deploying an S/MIME solution for secure email communications. The compliance team mandates that encrypted emails must remain recoverable by security auditors if an employee leaves the company. However, the legal team requires that digitally signed emails strictly maintain legal non-repudiation. Which of the following public key infrastructure (PKI) key management configurations should the security team implement to satisfy both requirements?

  1. Escrow the private key designated for email decryption on a secure server, while keeping the digital signature private key under the user's sole control on the local system without escrow.Answer
  2. B
    Escrow the digital signature private key on the central Certificate Authority to ensure signature evidence can be audited and reconstructed by compliance officers.
  3. C
    Instruct the Certificate Authority to generate the private signature key during Certificate Signing Request (CSR) creation and publish it via the Certificate Revocation List (CRL).
  4. D
    Implement symmetric key escrow on the Registration Authority to manage both email body decryption and signature verification.

Answer

Escrow the private key designated for email decryption on a secure server, while keeping the digital signature private key under the user's sole control on the local system without escrow.
In enterprise PKI environments, separating encryption certificates from digital signature certificates is standard practice. The private key used for decrypting S/MIME emails can be safely escrowed so that the organization can recover encrypted files and emails if needed. Conversely, the private key used for digital signatures must remain under the exclusive control of the owner and never be escrowed, preserving strict legal non-repudiation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the compliance requirement for data recovery.
Email confidentiality relies on asymmetric encryption where messages are encrypted with the recipient's public key. Decrypting archived emails requires access to the corresponding private key, making key escrow appropriate for decryption keys.
Escrowing decryption keys guarantees that business correspondence remains readable even if keys are lost or employees depart.
2
Analyze the legal requirement for non-repudiation.
Non-repudiation proves that a specific individual authored or authorized a signed document. If any third party possesses a copy of the signing private key, the key owner can repudiate the signature.
Digital signature private keys must never be escrowed to ensure sole control by the key holder.
3
Select the configuration that balances both requirements.
Separate dual-key pairs should be issued: one key pair for encryption/decryption (with escrow) and one key pair for digital signatures (without escrow).
This dual-certificate deployment satisfies both data availability and non-repudiation mandates.

Key Concept

Dual Key Pair Management and Key Escrow vs Non-Repudiation in PKI
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Public Key Infrastructure and Certificate Management

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