SYSTEM AND METHOD THAT USES CRYPTOGRAPHIC CERTIFICATES TO DEFINE GROUPS OF ENTITIES

A system and method for issuing a cryptographic certificate includes describing one or more prerequisite condition on the cryptographic certificate. The one or more prerequisite conditions comprise membership in one or more prerequisite group of entities. An entity may be a participant, a resource or a privilege, etc. The present invention also requires naming one or more target groups of entities on the cryptographic certificate. One or more prerequisite group stakeholder that authorizes an entity in the one or more prerequisite group of entities to be added as members in another group of entities sign the cryptographic certificate. The cryptographic certificate is also signed by one or more target group stakeholders that authorizes an entity to be added as a member of the one or more target groups. Exemplary prerequisite conditions relate to one or more of a membership in another group of entities, a physical characteristic, a temporal characteristic, a location characteristic or a position characteristic, among others.