SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING KEYS TO ACCESS PROTECTED INFORMATION

摘要

A server uses an encryption key to decrypt authentication information thereby facilitating communication with network-accessible applications that may be remotely located from the server. Servers can also use encryption keys to decrypt files containing sensitive data. The encryption key is obtained by a collection of software agents, each providing a portion of information necessary for generating the encryption key. Each software agent performs a respective examination, the results of which determine whether the respective portion of information is valid or not. A complete encryption key can be obtained only when all of the contributing portions of information are valid.