A method of managing a user key for a broadcast encryption. The method includes assigning numbers to respective users and arranging the users on a ring-shaped structure in order to map hash chains onto the respective nodes of a ring-shaped structure. The method further includes making random node keys correspond to the respective nodes, one by one, constructing the hash chains from the corresponding node keys using a hash function, and successively mapping the constructed hash chains onto the nodes of the ring-shaped structure.