KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language) is a widely used
communication language and protocol which enables autonomous and
asynchronous agents to share their knowledge and
work towards cooperative problem solving[13]. However, agent
security issues were not taken into consideration in the original
version of KQML specification. Though some changes were made for
secure communications based on KQML[11], it is still can
not satisfy the requirements of
public key certification management.
In order to implement KQML-based PKI, we propose a
KQML ontology, several new parameters and performatives as follows.
The new ontology is:
PKCertificate
It enable the agents (including application agents) to know
that the performative they received concerns interactions
about public key certificate management. Upon receiving the
performative, the receiver will check
the authenticity of the updated certificate by verifying signature
with the public key included in the original certificate.