Secret Key

A cryptographic key that is used with a secret key (symmetric) cryptographic algorithm, that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not be made public. The use of the term secret in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.

1. A key that is intended for use by a limited number of correspondents for encryption and decryption. [2382-pt.8] 2. In a symmetric cryptographic algorithm the key shared between two entities [10181-1]. 3. In a symmetric encipherment algorithm the key shared between two entities [10181-2].