Key ceremony

In public-key cryptography and computer security, a root key ceremony is a procedure where a unique pair of public and private root keys is generated. Depending on the certificate policy, the generation of the root Keys may require notarization, legal representation, witnesses and ‘key holders’ to be present, as the information on the system is a responsibility of the parties. A commonly-recognized best practice is to follow the SAS 70 standard for root key ceremonies.

At the heart of every certificate authority (CA) is at least one root key or root certificate and usually at least one intermediate root certificate. A root key is a term for a unique passcode that must be generated for secure server interaction with a protective network, usually called the root zone. Prompts for information from this zone can be done through a server. The keys and certificates mentioned are the credentials and safe guards for the system. These digital certificates are made from a public and a private key.