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Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys. Each pair consists of a public key and a private key. The generation of such key pairs depends on cryptographic algorithms which are based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Effective security requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.
Non-repudiation refers to a situation where a statement's author cannot successfully dispute its authorship or the validity of an associated contract. The term is often seen in a legal setting when the authenticity of a signature is being challenged. In such an instance, the authenticity is being "repudiated".
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity of digital messages or documents. A valid digital signature, where the prerequisites are satisfied, gives a recipient very high confidence that the message was created by a known sender (authenticity), and that the message was not altered in transit (integrity).
A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. The purpose of a PKI is to facilitate the secure electronic transfer of information for a range of network activities such as e-commerce, internet banking and confidential email. It is required for activities where simple passwords are an inadequate authentication method and more rigorous proof is required to confirm the identity of the parties involved in the communication and to validate the information being transferred.
In cryptography, a public key certificate, also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate, is an electronic document used to prove the validity of a public key. The certificate includes information about the key, information about the identity of its owner, and the digital signature of an entity that has verified the certificate's contents. If the signature is valid, and the software examining the certificate trusts the issuer, then it can use that key to communicate securely with the certificate's subject. In email encryption, code signing, and e-signature systems, a certificate's subject is typically a person or organization. However, in Transport Layer Security (TLS) a certificate's subject is typically a computer or other device, though TLS certificates may identify organizations or individuals in addition to their core role in identifying devices. TLS, sometimes called by its older name Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), is notable for being a part of HTTPS, a protocol for securely browsing the web.
In cryptography, X.509 is an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard defining the format of public key certificates. X.509 certificates are used in many Internet protocols, including TLS/SSL, which is the basis for HTTPS, the secure protocol for browsing the web. They are also used in offline applications, like electronic signatures.
In cryptography, a web of trust is a concept used in PGP, GnuPG, and other OpenPGP-compatible systems to establish the authenticity of the binding between a public key and its owner. Its decentralized trust model is an alternative to the centralized trust model of a public key infrastructure (PKI), which relies exclusively on a certificate authority. As with computer networks, there are many independent webs of trust, and any user can be a part of, and a link between, multiple webs.
In cryptography, a certificate revocation list is "a list of digital certificates that have been revoked by the issuing certificate authority (CA) before their scheduled expiration date and should no longer be trusted". CRLs are no longer required by the CA/Browser forum, as alternate certificate revocation technologies are increasingly used instead. Nevertheless, CRLs are still widely used by the CAs.
In cryptography, a certificate authority or certification authority (CA) is an entity that stores, signs, and issues digital certificates. A digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate. This allows others to rely upon signatures or on assertions made about the private key that corresponds to the certified public key. A CA acts as a trusted third party—trusted both by the subject (owner) of the certificate and by the party relying upon the certificate. The format of these certificates is specified by the X.509 or EMV standard.
In cryptography, a trusted third party (TTP) is an entity which facilitates interactions between two parties who both trust the third party; the Third Party reviews all critical transaction communications between the parties, based on the ease of creating fraudulent digital content. In TTP models, the relying parties use this trust to secure their own interactions. TTPs are common in any number of commercial transactions and in cryptographic digital transactions as well as cryptographic protocols, for example, a certificate authority (CA) would issue a digital certificate to one of the two parties in the next example. The CA then becomes the Trusted-Third-Party to that certificates issuance. Likewise transactions that need a third party recordation would also need a third-party repository service of some kind or another.
S/MIME is a standard for public key encryption and signing of MIME data. S/MIME is on an IETF standards track and defined in a number of documents, most importantly RFC 3369, 3370, 3850 and 3851. It was originally developed by RSA Data Security and the original specification used the IETF MIME specification with the de facto industry standard PKCS#7 secure message format. Change control to S/MIME has since been vested in the IETF and the specification is now layered on Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS), an IETF specification that is identical in most respects with PKCS #7. S/MIME functionality is built into the majority of modern email software and interoperates between them. Since it is built on CMS, MIME can also hold an advanced digital signature.
In cryptography and computer security, self-signed certificates are public key certificates that their users issue on their own behalf, as opposed to a certificate authority (CA) issuing them. These certificates are easy to make and do not cost money. However, they do not provide any trust value.
The ABA digital signature guidelines are a set of guidelines published on 1 August 1996 by the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Science and Technology Law. The authors are members of the Section's Information Security Committee. The document was the first overview of principles and a framework for the use of digital signatures and authentication in electronic commerce from a legal viewpoint, including technologies such as certificate authorities and public key infrastructure (PKI). The guidelines were a product of a four-year collaboration by 70 lawyers and technical experts from a dozen countries, and have been adopted as the model for legislation by some states in the US, including Florida and Utah.
A credential is a piece of any document that details a qualification, competence, or authority issued to an individual by a third party with a relevant or de facto authority or assumed competence to do so.
Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed. The process employs the use of a cryptographic hash to validate authenticity and integrity.
A certificate policy (CP) is a document which aims to state what are the different entities of a public key infrastructure (PKI), their roles and their duties. This document is published in the PKI perimeter.
An Extended Validation Certificate (EV) is a certificate conforming to X.509 that proves the legal entity of the owner and is signed by a certificate authority key that can issue EV certificates. EV certificates can be used in the same manner as any other X.509 certificates, including securing web communications with HTTPS and signing software and documents. Unlike domain-validated certificates and organization-validation certificates, EV certificates can be issued only by a subset of certificate authorities (CAs) and require verification of the requesting entity's legal identity before certificate issuance.
Electronic authentication is the process of establishing confidence in user identities electronically presented to an information system. Digital authentication, or e-authentication, may be used synonymously when referring to the authentication process that confirms or certifies a person's identity and works. When used in conjunction with an electronic signature, it can provide evidence of whether data received has been tampered with after being signed by its original sender. Electronic authentication can reduce the risk of fraud and identity theft by verifying that a person is who they say they are when performing transactions online.
GlobalSign is a WebTrust-certified certificate authority (CAs) and provider of Identity Services. As of January 2015, Globalsign was the 4th largest certificate authority in the world according to the Netcraft survey.
Aadhaar eSign is an online electronic signature service in India to facilitate an Aadhaar holder to digitally sign a document. The signature service is facilitated by authenticating the Aadhar holder via the Aadhar-based e-KYC service.
References
- ↑ "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate Policy and Certification Practices Framework". IETF . November 2003. p. 15. RFC 3647.
- ↑ American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines 1996, ISBN 1-57073-250-7 (section 1.8.1)
- ↑ "Creating Certificate Policies and Certificate Practice Statements".
- ↑ American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines 1996, ISBN 1-57073-250-7