Re: Master Key Expired

From: John Banes [MS] (jbanes@online.microsoft.com)
Date: 12/30/02 

From: "John Banes [MS]" <jbanes@online.microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 13:38:08 -0800

Are you talking about data protection (DPAPI) master keys, by any chance?

These are stored in the user profile, under the "protect" directory. A new
master key file is created every 90 days, but the old master keys are kept
around forever, just in case they are needed to decrypt data that was
originally encrypted when the expired master key was 'current'. The master
key files have filenames equivalent to their GUIDs, which prevents them from
overwritting each other. 

--
Regards,
John Banes
[Microsoft Security Developer]
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"Vincenzo Medugno" <vin.med@tiscali.it> wrote in message
news:021001c2a688$35b06170$89f82ecf@TK2MSFTNGXA01...
> Hi,
> we say that the master key after 3 months expired but W2k
> don't delete any master key expired but remember in a
> opaque structure the GUID of the Master Key.
> My question is the follow:
>
> - Where are stored the Master Key expired?
>
> Thank you
>
> Vincenzo Medugno