What is a Public Key Infrastructure?
A PKI is a comprehensive system of policies, processes, and technologies working together to enable users of the Internet to exchange information securely and confidentially. Public Key Infrastructures are based on the use of cryptography – the scrambling of information by a mathematical formula and a virtual key so that it can only be decoded by an authorized party using a related key. A PKI uses pairs of cryptographic keys provided by a trusted third party known as a Certification Authority (CA). Central to the workings of a PKI, a CA issues digital certificates that positively identify the holder’s identity. A Certification Authority maintains accessible directories of valid certificates, and a list of certificates it has revoked.
