Introduction

Remote Key Attestation（远程密钥认证，简称RKA）是一种安全机制，用于验证远程设备上的加密密钥是否由可信的硬件或安全环境生成和保护。其核心目标是确保通信双方能够信任对方所持有的密钥来源，防止密钥被伪造或篡改。

在实际应用中，例如云计算、物联网或分布式系统中，设备可能需要向远程服务器证明自己使用的是由可信执行环境（TEE）或硬件安全模块（HSM）生成的密钥。通过RKA，设备可以提供加密证据（如签名或证书），证明其密钥的安全属性，例如是否为特定硬件所持有、是否不可导出等。

RKA通常结合公钥基础设施（PKI）、数字证书、远程认证协议（如Intel SGX的远程认证）等技术实现。它在零信任架构、设备身份认证、密钥管理服务等领域具有广泛应用，有助于提升系统的整体安全性。


Common use cases for key attestation are:

  • Issuing code signing certificates for subscriber keys, verifying that the subscribers private signature key is generated and managed in an approved cryptographic device.
  • Issuing digital signature certificate for subscriber keys, verifying that the subscribers private signature key is generated and managed in an approved cryptographic device.

There are other ways to achieve the same purpose, such as shipping hardware devices (USB tokens, smart cards, etc) to the subscriber, or requiring a formal audit of the key generation procedure from the subscriber. Using remote key attestation makes this process more efficient and possible to automate in a larger scale.


pkic.org/remote-key-attestation

Sigstore root-signing

Sigstore root-signing - https://github.com/sigstore/root-signing/blob/main/playbooks/ORCHESTRATION.md Github Repo Stars: sigstore/root-signing

PIV Attestation

PIV Attestation - https://developers.yubico.com/PIV/Introduction/PIV_attestation.html

Reference