Secure digital credential sharing arrangement

摘要

A secure and transparent digital credential sharing arrangement which utilizes one or more cryptographic levels of indirection to obfuscate a sharing entity's credentials 207 from those entities 230 authorized to share the credentials. A security policy table 225 is provided which allows the sharing entity 205 to selectively authorize or revoke digital credential sharing among a plurality of entities 230. Various embodiments of the invention provide for secure storage and retrieval of digital credentials from security tokens such as smart cards. The secure sharing arrangement may be implemented in hierarchical or non-hierarchical embodiments as desired.