XML Key Management (XKMS) Activity Statement

The XML Key Management (XKMS) Activity specifies protocols for distributing and registering public keys, suitable for use with the standard for XML Signatures defined by W3C and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and its companion standard for XML Encryption.

The XKMS specification became a W3C Recommendation in June 2005, and has two parts: the XML Key Information Service Specification (X-KISS) and the XML Key Registration Service Specification (X-KRSS). XKMS does not require any particular underlying public key infrastructure (such as X.509) but is designed to be compatible with such infrastructures. The X-KISS protocol allows an application to delegate to a service the processing of key information associated with an XML signature, XML encryption, or other usage of the XML Signature ds:KeyInfo element. The X-KRSS protocol supports the registration of a key pair by a key pair holder, with the intent that the key pair subsequently be usable in conjunction with X-KISS or a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) such as X.509 or PKIX.

Highlights Since the Previous Advisory Committee Meeting

The Working Group published two last Working Group Notes, A WSDL 1.1 description for XKMS (18 November 2005) and Using XKMS with PGP (19 December 2005). These notes are complementary to the XKMS specification and won't require any further work on the XKMS specification itself.

Errata maintenance has been ongoing since the publication of the W3C Recommendation for the XKMS specification and its bindings.

Upcoming Activity Highlights

The XKMS Working Group and Activity closed at the end of December 2005. The Working Group fulfilled its goals with success. There is no immediate plan to recharter it.

Summary of Activity Structure

Group	Chair	Team Contact	Charter
XML Key Management Working Group	Stephen Farrell, Shivaram Mysore	José Kahan	Chartered until 31 December 2005

This Activity Statement was prepared for the November/December 2005 W3C Advisory Committee Meeting (Members only) per section 5 of the W3C Process Document.

Jose Kahan <kahan_chez_w3.org> XKMS Activity Lead

Modified: $Date: 2006/04/14 06:58:06 $