Re: [pkcs11] Groups - PKCS #11 v2,40 Usage Guide wd04 (pdf) uploaded

I finally got started looking at the text of the usage guide and immediately was struck by the two following paragraphs:

Cryptoki was intended from the beginning to be an interface between applications and all kinds of portable cryptographic devices, such as those based on smart cards, PCMCIA cards, and smart diskettes. There are already standards (de facto or official) for interfacing to these devices at some level. For instance, the mechanical characteristics and electrical connections are well-defined, as are the methods for supplying commands and receiving results. (See, for example, ISO 7816, or the PCMCIA specifications.)

and

It is not the goal of Cryptoki to be a generic interface to cryptographic operations or security services, although one certainly could build such operations and services with the functions that Cryptoki provides. Cryptoki is intended to complement, not compete with, such emerging and evolving interfaces as “Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface” (RFC 2743 and RFC 2744) and “Generic Cryptographic Service API” (GCS-API) from X/Open.

These came over intact from the 2.20 document, but I think they really need some changes given that a fairly common use is for heavy iron HSMs.

I'm sure there are other things in the usage guide that will need tweaking, but I think it might be useful to get us on the same page with intended usages.

Mike

On 9/16/2013 11:12 AM, Robert Griffin wrote:

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