Exploring the Components of a PKI
A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) includes all the components necessary to issue, manage, verify, and use certificates for different purposes. A PKI includes the following components:
Public/Private Key Pairs The public/private key pair is a matched set of keys used for encryption and decryption of data. These matched key pairs will work with each other but not with keys from other key pairs. Applications are commonly used to generate these matching key pairs.
Certificates A certificate is an electronic file. It includes details such as who issued it, who it was issued to, validity dates, and the public key.
Certification Authority (CA) The CA issues and manages certificates. If a certificate or a private key ...
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