Despite the wide availability of both free and commercial software which allows data to be signed and encrypted using PGP, a convincing web of trust in the larger community of network operators has yet to form: it is frequently possible to find PGP keys for random people that you need to communicate with, but it is still unusual to find a key with a signature trail that allows it to be used with any real confidence.

This brief presentation describes how a web of trust between network operators can be useful, and outlines the mechanics of key signing both at the Monday night key signing party, and also in corridors around the meeting using the "I sign keys" indicator on attendee badges.

About the Presenter
Joe Abley works for Internet Software Consortium, a not-for-profit company based in California that produces free reference implementations of Internet standard protocols.