Mike Meyers' CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide (Exam SY0-401)

MODULE 10

Public Key Infrastructure

In this module we are going to discuss yet another, and very important, application of cryptography: the use of cryptography in a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). PKI gives us the ability to put cryptography into practical application. We use it to implement strong authentication and encryption schemes to protect data confidentiality and integrity and ensure non-repudiation. We are going to focus solely on PKI in this module, discussing basic concepts and the more advanced details of asymmetric cryptography, including how symmetric cryptography and hashing are integrated to create a PKI.

PKI Concepts

PKI is not simply made up of public key cryptography and its asymmetric algorithms and keys. It’s a collection ...