Well, Web browsers are an important
part of the infrastructure for digital certificates. What is
the relationship between the browser and the digital
certificate?
• All major browsers come with the ability to store
certificates and to deliver them to remote Web based
applications.
• Digital certificates are part of the Secure Socket
Layer (SSL) protocol, which enables secure electronic
transactions on the Web.
Where will the individuals store
their private keys?
Individuals will be responsible for storing and protecting
their private keys. Web browsers currently provide
limited tools that do this for users. Individuals who use
one primary machine, such as a laptop, will probably
store their private keys on their computers. Individuals
who frequently move from machine to machine, such as
students, will probably store their private keys on small
storage media such as floppy disks or smart cards.
What is in a digital certificate?
The contents of a digital certificate are prescribed by the
X.509 standard, developed by the International Standards
Organization (ISO) and adopted by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF). The latest version is now
X509 v3. The principal elements of a digital certificate are
as follows:
• Version number of the certificate format
• Serial number of the certificate
• Signature algorithm identifier
• Issuer of digital certificate: a certificate authority
with URL
• Validity period
• Unique identification of certificate holder
• Public key information
References:
http://www.diglib.org/architectures/cren-dlf.pdf
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1 comment:
All these points are important and very useful. Many people are not familiar with the relation between the browser and digital certificate but this article will help to know all the important facts about digital certificates. Thanks for posting.
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