TCR

Revision as of 06:24, 11 February 2015 by Kjd (talk | contribs) (Correct a number of errors on how TCRs are described, link to up-to-date TCR list maintained by ICANN)

TCR or Trusted Community Representative is a term given by ICANN to those who participate in ceremonies that manage the DNS Root Key Signing Key. The Root Key Signing Key is central to implementing DNSSEC for the Internet. Every TCR has been given credentials that are used to interact with the master key during key signing ceremonies. The first key signing ceremony took place on 16th June 2010.

ICANN uses the participation of TCRs to ensure trust in the process of managing the Root Key Signing Key. In normal operations, ICANN is unable to utilise the Root Key Signing Key without the participation of a number of TCRs called "Cryptographic Officers" to unlock the cryptographic devices that contain the private key. In a disaster-recovery scenario, another set of TCRs called "Recovery Key Share Holders" are needed to decrypt backups of private key.