Digital Certificate
Overview As the
functionality and complexity of the Internet increases, software
downloaded from the Web plays an increasingly important role in our
interactions with online resources. Digital certificates ensure that a
program is from a legitimate source and that it contains the specific data
that it claims. Certificate authorities are companies that offer
certification services that verify the identity of both the client and the
server. These services employ both digital signature, and public key
encryption methods. Many companies on the Web sell digital certificates.
General Information
Who can obtain a digital certificate? What is involved in purchasing and
implementing a digital certificate? What technologies are employed in
digital certification? These questions can be answered by visiting www.webopedia.com/TERM/d/digital_certificate.html.
Here you can read the definition for “digital certificate”, as well as
link to other sites with information about digital certificates. This Netscape.com
page offers a concise tutorial about how a digital
certificate works. For a more comprehensive tutorial on this subject,
visit www.howstuffworks.com/question571.htm.
Digital Certificate
Resources Are you looking for additional information about
digital certificates, such as tutorials or Web sites? If so, the following
sites will help you. Visit Microsoft’s Product
Support Services page for a tutorial, and links to other Web
resources. Go to the American Bar Associaiton page at www.abanet.org
to read the article “Digital Signature Guidelines Tutorial”
which is a free online tutorial. If you are looking specifically for
information about ActiveX and digital certificates, then visit this MSDN.com
Web page.
Digital Certificate
Companies Various companies provide digital certificates for
individuals and businesses. Most digital certificate providers follow the
DSS (Digital Signature Standard) that is based on a public key encryption
method known as DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm). This popular encryption
and digital signature method is endorsed by many security professionals,
as well as the U.S. government. Visit any of the following links to view
digital certificate companies’ home pages. These pages include
information about services and prices.
Additional Links A
glossary of security, privacy, and encryption terminology is available at www.superiorconsultant.com
or www.digsigtrust.com.
The Web page www.ppdonline.com/demos/changesecurity.htm
offers valuable information about how to safely change the security
settings on your Windows PC. Both this Microsoft
Support page, and this Symantec.com
page report the occurrence of someone acquiring a digital
certificate which was erroneously signed by Microsoft.
|