Scalable cryptographic key regeneration and redistribution to secure publish-subscribe systems

A method for performing secure distribution of symmetric keys in a publish-subscribe system, comprising:

• (a) having a software system with a plurality of software applications, each of the software applications having a plurality of participants,
• wherein each of the plurality of participants is a software entity, and
• wherein each of the plurality of the participants contains one or more publishers and one or more subscribers;
• (b) encoding and sending by one of the one or more publishers data samples to the one or more subscribers using a unique cryptographic software symmetric key for the one publisher,
• wherein the unique cryptographic software symmetric key is derived from a key material and a key revision,
• wherein the key material is a piece of cryptographic information unique for that one publisher,
• wherein the key revision is a piece of cryptographic information unique for the participant that contains that one publisher, and
• wherein the participant is capable of generating a plurality of key revisions;
• (c) distributing by the participant that contains the one publisher the key material unique for the one publisher from step (b) to the participants containing the one or more subscribers;
• (d) distributing by the participant that contains the one publisher the key revision from step (b) to the participants containing the one or more subscribers;
• and
• (e) each one of the participants containing the one or more subscribers deriving a new cryptographic symmetric key from the distributed unique key material from step (c) and the distributed key revision from step (d), wherein the new cryptographic symmetric key is equal to the unique cryptographic key for the one publisher from step (b).