Securely storing a public key for encryption of data in a computing device by using a user-specific key pair which is securely stored in the computing device, including receiving a target public key corresponding to a target device, obtaining a user-specific key pair from a secure registry, using a user-specific private key from the user-specific key pair to create a target key verifier based on the target public key, storing the target key verifier and the target public key in a storage area, retrieving the target key verifier and the target public key from the storage area, applying a user-specific public key from the user-specific key pair to the target key verifier for verifying the authenticity of the target public key, and encrypting data with the target public key, if authenticity of the target public key is verified, thereby creating encrypted data for transmission to the target device.