J2EE™ Security for Servlets, EJBs and Web Services: Applying Theory and Standards to Practice

Applications of PKI

PKI has found practical applications in a number of areas. Most of us come across PKI in the context of one or more of these applications.

Secure e-mail Communication

Normal e-mail communication over the Internet is not considered safe to exchange confidential and sensitive information, for the sender's identity can easily be faked, or the clear text message be seen and modified in transit, either by sniffing the wire or retrieving and modifying the stored text at intermediate servers. An obvious solution to this problem is to use a digital signature to establish the sender's identity and encryption to ensure the privacy of the message. Both assume PKI to be in place.

In a PKI-based secure e-mail solution, the mail client ...