The holding, by an independent agency, of decryption keys to encrypted data, for controlled access by authorized people (frequently attributive); a system of encryption involving this.
Origin
1990s; earliest use found in The New York Times.
Definition of key escrow in US English:
key escrow
noun
Cryptography
The holding, by an independent agency, of decryption keys to encrypted data, for controlled access by authorized people (frequently attributive); a system of encryption involving this.