Secure crypto system attributes

A cryptographic key management system, comprising:

• an interface to receive commands that control cryptographic key processing circuitry to perform a set of operations on a set of cryptographic keys;
• a plurality of cryptographic key registers that are readable and writable by the cryptographic key processing circuitry, the plurality of cryptographic key registers including cryptographic key portions to store cryptographic keys and attribute portions to store corresponding pluralities of attribute indicators that are associated with the cryptographic keys stored in the cryptographic key portions;
• the attribute indicators to determine a respective subset of operations that the cryptographic key processing circuitry is allowed to perform using the cryptographic keys stored in the corresponding cryptographic key portion.

A method for deriving a cryptographic key, comprising:

• receiving a first cryptographic key;
• receiving an indicator of an intended use for a derived cryptographic key;
• generating the derived cryptographic key based on the first cryptographic key and the indicator of the intended use.