Digital Certificate

• Digital certificates allow public authentication.
  • A digital certificate contains a digital signature.
  • They are signed by a trusted third party using an encryption method.
    • The third party is called a Certificate Authority (CA).

• A digital certificate is issued by a CA and binds a particular user/server to a particular private key.
  • It can authenticate the server to the user.
  • It can authenticate the user to the server.
  • It can verify the distributor of software.
  • It can be used to send encrypted e-mail.

What are some popular encryption methods?

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© 2006 John Michael Pierobon

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