Elliptic curve key pairs must be generated during the operation of each of the schemes specified in this
document. The key pair generation process requires a secure random or pseudorandom number generator.
Design of secure random and pseudorandom number generators is notoriously difficult and implementers
should therefore take care to pay attention to this aspect of their system design.
Once a key pair has been generated, it is often necessary to convey the public key in an authentic manner
to other entities. One way of achieving this authentic distribution is to have the key certified by a trusted
Certification Authority within a Public Key Infrastructure.
In many schemes it is desirable for an entity to receive assurance that an elliptic curve public key is valid
or partially valid before they use the public key to, say, verify a signature. This process can help prevent
small subgroup attacks and other attacks based on the use of an invalid public key.

Tags: Cryptography, Elliptic-curve, Elliptic-curve-key-pairs