Account/key management

Cryptographic keys are an essential component of a GoQuorum network. GoQuorum uses keys to create digital signatures which verify a sender's identity and prevent message tampering. The Privacy Manager uses keys to encrypt private transaction data.

Both GoQuorum and the Privacy Manager use user-provided asymmetric key pairs. Each key pair consists of a public key and a private key. The public key can be shared freely, but the private key should never be shared.

• GoQuorum derives the account address from the public key by taking the last 20 bytes of its keccak256 hash
• The Privacy Manager uses the public key as an identifier for the target nodes of a private transaction (that is the privateFor transaction field)

Key management determines how GoQuorum and Tessera store and use private keys.