Cryptography, trusted third parties and escrow

The promise of tomorrow's electronic business environment will not be fully realised unless government, business and consumers have a high level of confidence in the security of that environment. The use of cryptography can provide this confidence and facilitate the establishment of a global electronic market-place. Cryptographic techniques offer a range of services including confidentiality, authenticity, integrity and anonymity. We examine some of these techniques and explain why a trusted third party infrastructure is seen as a crucial component in the successful introduction of an electronic business arena. The widespread use of cryptography, however, also presents possible new opportunities for criminal activity. To mitigate against this many governments have proposed the provision of escrowed cryptographic services - We review a particular scheme favoured by the UK government.