Cryptographic Key Management and Infrastructure Questions

Designing, implementing, and operating systems that manage cryptographic keys and associated cryptographic infrastructure across the full lifecycle of keys and certificates. This includes secure key generation using validated entropy sources and randomness validation, key hierarchies and key derivation strategies, master key protection, algorithm selection and algorithm agility planning, and key migration strategies. It covers secure storage options and protections such as hardware security modules, cloud key management services and key vaults, encrypted and sealed storage patterns, and practical deployment considerations for both on premise and cloud environments. Access control and authorization patterns such as role based access control, separation of duties, and least privilege enforcement are essential, along with automated provisioning, rotation, retirement, and deprovisioning workflows. Operational topics include secure key distribution to services and devices, secure archival and destruction procedures, key escrow and recovery mechanisms, backup and disaster recovery for key material, incident response and handling of compromised keys, and audit logging and monitoring of key operations. Public key infrastructure and certificate lifecycle management are included, covering trust models, certificate issuance and renewal, revocation mechanisms and online status checking, and integration with identity and access management systems. Candidates should also address testing and validation approaches, cryptographic module attestation and tamper resistance, threat modeling and key compromise drills, standards and compliance considerations including guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other frameworks, scaling and performance trade offs for enterprise and internet scale deployments, and the balance between operational convenience, availability, and cryptographic assurance.