Apparatus and methods for managing key material in cryptographic assets

A method for managing key material in a plurality of cryptographic assets, comprising:

• generating, for each of the cryptographic assets, respective first key material having an associated cryptoperiod;
• distributing the respective first key material to the cryptographic assets;
• monitoring a selected cryptographic asset to determine, based on the associated cryptoperiod, whether the respective first key material has expired;
• generating second key material for the selected cryptographic asset;
• and
• if the respective first key material has expired, automatically delivering the second key material to the selected cryptographic asset via an integrated key management system having a plurality of key management interfaces that couple the key management system to the plurality of cryptographic assets.

A method for securing a communications interface, comprising:

• defining a set of equipment classes;
• registering at least one cryptographic asset with each equipment class;
• grouping selected cryptographic assets selected from the registered cryptographic assets into secure communication services thereby defining secure communication interfaces between the cryptographic assets;
• defining key material for each communications interface;
• maintaining a schedule for automatic delivery of the key material to the cryptographic assets;
• and
• delivering the key material to the cryptographic assets via an integrated key management system having a plurality of key management interfaces that couple the key management system to each of the cryptographic assets.

A method for managing key material in a plurality of cryptographic assets, the method comprising:

• defining, for each of the cryptographic assets, respective first key material to be delivered to the cryptographic assets, wherein the respective first key material has a cryptoperiod having an expiration;
• defining, for each of the cryptographic assets, respective second key material to be delivered to the cryptographic assets;
• maintaining a schedule for automatic delivery of the respective second key material to the cryptographic assets such that for each said cryptographic asset the respective second key material will be delivered automatically to the cryptographic asset at or before the expiration of the cryptoperiod of the respective first key material;
• and
• delivering the respective second key material to each of the cryptographic assets based on the schedule.