Editing Key management (section)

{{short description|Management of cryptographic keys}}
{{other uses}}
'''Key management''' refers to management  of [[Key (cryptography)|cryptographic keys]] in a [[cryptosystem]]. This includes dealing with the generation, exchange, storage, use, [[crypto-shredding]] (destruction) and replacement of keys. It includes [[cryptographic protocol]] design, [[Key server (cryptographic)|key server]]s, user procedures, and other relevant protocols.<ref name="Turner-What-is-key-management">{{cite web|last1=Turner|first1=Dawn M.|title=What Is Key Management? A CISO Perspective|url=http://www.cryptomathic.com/news-events/blog/what-is-key-management-a-ciso-perspective|publisher=Cryptomathic|access-date=30 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Krähenbühl |first1=Cyrill |title=Key Management |date=2023 |work=Trends in Data Protection and Encryption Technologies |pages=15–20 |editor-last=Mulder |editor-first=Valentin |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-33386-6_4 |isbn=978-3-031-33386-6 |last2=Perrig |first2=Adrian |editor2-last=Mermoud |editor2-first=Alain |editor3-last=Lenders |editor3-first=Vincent |editor4-last=Tellenbach |editor4-first=Bernhard|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Key management concerns keys at the user level, either between users or systems. This is in contrast to [[key scheduling]], which typically refers to the internal handling of keys within the operation of a cipher.

Successful key management is critical to the security of a cryptosystem. It is the more challenging side of [[cryptography]] in a sense that it involves aspects of social engineering such as system policy, user training, organizational and departmental interactions, and coordination between all of these elements, in contrast to pure mathematical practices that can be automated.