Editing Key server (cryptographic) (section)

==Public versus private keyservers==

Many publicly accessible key servers, located around the world, are computers which store and provide [[OpenPGP]] keys over the Internet for users of that [[cryptosystem]]. In this instance, the computers can be, and mostly are, run by individuals as a [[pro bono]] service, facilitating the [[web of trust]] model PGP uses.

Several publicly accessible [http://wiki.cacert.org/KeyServers S/MIME key servers] are available to publish or retrieve certificates used with the [[S/MIME]] cryptosystem.

There are also multiple proprietary [[public key infrastructure]] systems which maintain key servers for their users; those may be private or public, and only the participating users are likely to be aware of those keyservers at all.