ABSTRACT
The least appreciated of the (five) inventions that characterize modern cryptography is automated key
management. This powerful mechanism enables us to overcome the lack of rigor and discipline that leads
to the inevitable compromise of crypto systems. By permitting us to change keys frequently and safely, it
overcomes the fundamental limitations of the algorithms that we use. It enables us to compensate for
such human limitations as the inability to remember or transcribe long random numbers.
