Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Security Handbook

Windows 2000 and Public-Key Infrastructure

The latest release of Microsoft's enterprise operating system bundles integrated support for creating, deploying, and managing PKI applications. Microsoft Certificate Server (discussed in Chapter 17, "Certificate Server") and the Microsoft CryptoAPI provide the foundations for providing PKI-related services. The CryptoAPI provides a standard interface to cryptographic functionality supplied by what Microsoft refers to as cryptographic service providers (CSPs). These CSPs can be software-based or even take advantage of hardware devices such as smart cards. The CryptoAPI can also support a variety of algorithms and key strengths. There are also a variety of Windows 2000 services that interface with the ...