Establish and manage cryptographic keys for cryptography employed in organizational systems.

Cryptographic key management system provide for the management of cryptographic keys including generation, distribution, storage, backup, archive, recovery, use, revocation, and destruction. Examples of cryptographic keys include SSH keys, PGP keys, and digital certificates. The first intent of this practice is to ensure cryptographic keys are properly created in a secure manner that prevents them from being reproduced by an adversary. The second intent of this practice is to ensure cryptographic keys are managed in a secure manner that prevents them from being stolen by an adversary. Key establishment involves the creation of keys and coordination among parties that will use the keys of the methodology for generating the final keying material. Key management involves protecting keys when they are distributed when they are stored when they are being used, and when they are being recovered.

Examples of cryptographic keys include SSH keys, PGP keys, BitLocker keys, and digital certificates. Create an inventory of your cryptographic keys and determine who is responsible for which keys. Create a policy covering the life cycle of your encryption keys. If you do not have many keys, you can accomplish this manually.