This exclusive story is an education in public key infrastructure (PKI) and how Certificate Authorities (CAs) attest to the ownership of public keys.
-PKI provides a framework to create, manage, distribute, validate, and revoke digital certificates, with CAs at its core.
-The most common digital certificate format is the x.509 specification, which consists of a data part and a digital signature.
-Each CA creates a digital certificate by signing the public key audited to it and issues it to a data subject.
-As a foundational element of PKI, CAs are relied upon to verify the identity of the subject and ensure the integrity of data transmissions.
-This story provides a practical understanding of CAs for beginners, including configuring a CA using OpenSSL.
-It should be noted this is exclusively for educational purposes only.
-The story also highlights potential uses for CAs, such as securing small businesses’ local networks.