Understanding PKI: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations, Second Edition

Chapter 15. The Future of PKI

Perhaps you have read sequentially through Chapters 1–14 and have simply arrived here as the next step in your progression through this book. More likely, however, you have skipped to this chapter on purpose, enticed by the deliberately provocative title. The future of PKI? Lots of people are offering opinions; what will these guys say? Well, keeping in mind the famous quote by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr (“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future”), let's begin with a bit of a disclaimer: This chapter will not attempt to predict a particular, specific place or time for the flowering of PKI. You won't find statements such as “PKI is absolutely essential for e-commerce” or “HIPAA needs ...