Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Security Handbook

EFS Architecture

In the preceding sections, you got a basic understanding of Microsoft EFS. You need to know four important components to understand the way EFS works: the Microsoft CryptoAPI, the Local Security Authority Subsystem, the Windows 2000 public key implementation, and the way certificates and certificate authorities interact with EFS (see Figure 21.1).

Figure 21.1. EFS user mode and kernel mode components.

The specifics of these components are explained in the following chapters:

• Chapters 1, "Architecture," and 3, "Security Model," explain the security components of the system architecture.

• Chapter 8, "Cryptography," covers cryptography, ...