Web Security and Commerce

A Tour of the VeriSign Digital ID Center

VeriSign opened its Digital ID service during the summer of 1996. The center is located at http://digitalid.verisign.com/. Its home page is shown in Figure 8.2.

Figure 8-2. VeriSign’s Digital ID Center opened for business during the summer of 1996

Generating a VeriSign Digital ID

VeriSign distributes digital certificates (called digital IDs by VeriSign) from its web site. As of December 1996, the web site could create digital certificates for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and RSA’s Secure MIME format (see Figure 8.3).

Figure 8-3. The VeriSign certificate creation process consists of six steps:

The VeriSign certificate creation process consists of six steps:

1. You select a Class 1 Digital ID or a Class 2 Digital ID. (For an explanation of these classes, see “VeriSign’s Class System” later in this chapter.)

2. You provide identifying information to establish who you claim to be. For a Class 1 Digital ID, VeriSign requires:

   • First name or alias

   • Last name

   • Email address

   Only the email address is validated.

   For a Class 2 digital ID, VeriSign requires:

   • Email address

   • First name

   • Middle initial

   • Last name

   • Suffix

   • Mailing address: street name and number

   • Apartment or unit number

   • City

   • State or province

   • Zip code or postal code

   • Country

   • Date of birth

   • Social security ...