Abstract: Users and security aware applications are able to request operations on and manipulate role based digital certificates (and their corresponding private keys) distributed among multiple key rings through the use of a Key Ring Organizer (KRO). In a typical use of the KRO, the computer network is coupled to a secure server and at least one end-user terminal; a Registration Authority; and an organization server hosting secure applications. The end-user terminal includes a general purpose Web browser with a KRO plug-in module and a KRO managing a set of key rings, where each key ring may contain multiple keys. The KRO components include the KRO, a set of KRO catalogs (typically one), a built-in key ring, and multiple external key rings. A key ring can be of any type, including a smart card, key disk, or remote file. A catalog (typically a file) contains a set of entries in which each entry contains a set of attributes and a reference to a key record stored in a key ring.