PKCS

Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) are a group of public-key cryptography standards devised and published by RSA Security LLC, starting in the early 1990s. The company published the standards to promote the use of the cryptography techniques for which they had patents, such as the RSA algorithm, the Schnorr signature algorithm and several others. Though not industry standards (because the company retained control over them), some of the standards have begun to move into the "standards track" processes of relevant standards organizations in recent years^[when?], such as the IETF and the PKIX working group.

This article needs to be updated. (March 2024)

Key Updates (2023–2024):

• Integration of PKCS #7 and PKCS #12 into broader standards like S/MIME and TLS.
• Evolution of PKCS #11 to support newer hardware and cloud services.
• Involvement of PKCS standards in post-quantum cryptography efforts, with NIST's ongoing standardization.
• Growing adoption of PKCS standards in the context of blockchain and digital assets.