Digital Certificates

A guide to digital certificates - a form of electronic identification. Many security-based products on the Internet are based around digital certificates, which bind the identity of a person or device to a public key.

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Digital certificates bind a cryptographic key with one or more attributes of a user. Issued by certification authorities, the certificates protect the Internet by assuring the authenticity of network messages. This technology and its underlying digital signatures are now helping fuel the deployment of electronic commerce on the Internet. Internet users, developers, administrators, and corporate buyers need to have a solid understanding of certificate-based security systems in order to harness their potential. Digital Certificates: Applied Internet Security is a detailed and practical guide to understanding and working with this important technology. It presents an overview of digital certificates and their role in Internet security, a detailed description of the technologyis inner workings, and a look at the business infrastructure that is essential to its effective utilization. Practical throughout, this book features numerous examples from actual Internet applications to illustrate concepts and demonstrate how the technology works under real-world conditions.In this comprehensive book you will find: *Essential background information on Internet security and cryptography fundamentals *Detailed information about digital certificates, the X.
509 standard, and Public Key Infrastructures *Coverage of Web Browser security, trust-based software management for downloadable code (Java applets, JavaScript, and ActiveX controls), secure e-mail, Web server security, and access control *A discussion of the certificate-related security features of Netscape and Microsoft Web browsers, Netscape Messenger, Microsoft Outlook Express, and S/MIME, ASN.1, PKCS, SET, and SSL standards *Information on trusted third parties, accountability and reliability, and certification practice statements *Coverage of certificate authority service providers, local registration authorities, and security management solutions, based on VeriSign personal and server certificates, VeriSign OnSite enterprise solutions, and Microsoft Certificate Server 1.0 0201309807B04062001