Interoperability between the X.509 and EDIFACT public key infrastructures: the DEDICA project

Abstract

This paper shows a successful system to translate security objects from one encoding schema to another. The problem is similar to the translation of official documents from one language to other: we need an official translator, with recognised right to certify, that the information s/he is giving on the translation corresponds exactly with the information contained in the original document. This function can only be given by a TTP (Trusted Third Party). This TTP has to be able to check the validity and authenticity of all the data included in the original document, and translate it to the other environment, signing the translation, to certify, not only the authenticity of the data, but also the signatory of the original document. Since this particular TTP is connecting users and applications of two different environments, we have defined it as a gateway, and this paper describes with detail its architecture and functional requirements. To be more precise, the general architecture of this kind of TTP has been particularised to the case of X.509 and EDIFACT PKI, and the details of the internal modules of the gateway in this particular implementation are also given.