In this article, we explain PKI in the simplest language possible by walking through the technology step by step. First and foremost, what is PKI? PKI is a general term that defines the technology used to encrypt and authenticate data during transmissions.
Encryption makes the data unreadable, allowing only authorized entities to decrypt i. Authentication ensures data integrity by proving that 1 the data is not modified during transmission, and that 2 the sender of the data is who they claim to be. To explain how PKI works, we need to start by explaining its usage for authentication. As mentioned above, authentication is the process of verifying the integrity of data and the identity of the sender.
This is done through a digital certificate. In the digital world, each entity is associated with a digital certificate that serves as its identity. An entity does not have to be a person or a device, it can literally be anything, like a software program, a process, or even an action.
Just as how we prove our identity in the real world with passports and photo IDs, in the digital world, a digital certificate does the job. Now you may ask, how do we know that the digital certificates are legitimate? In this case, the government is the certified authority. The same process applies to a digital certificate. Certified authorities are usually third-party firms that specialize in generating digital certificates.
It also secures accounts by providing single-sign-on, multi-factor authentication for businesses across the world. PKI works by encrypting data in this case, digital certificate with a cryptographic key, while having a separate key for decrypting it. Venafi in the Cloud. Learn how three enterprises leveraged Venafi to manage their machine identities in the top three public clouds Learn More.
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Back to Ed Center. Digital Certificates PKI functions because of digital certificates. Certificate Authority A Certificate Authority CA is used to authenticate the digital identities of the users, which can range from individuals to computer systems to servers. Registration Authority Registration Authority RA , which is authorized by the Certificate Authority to provide digital certificates to users on a case-by-case basis.
Symmetrical Encryption Symmetrical encryption protects the single private key that is generated upon the initial exchange between parties—the digital handshake, if you will. We can sum up the relationship in three phases: First, the web server sends a copy of its unique asymmetric public key to the web browser. The browser responds by generating a symmetric session key and encrypting it with the asymmetric public key that was received by the server.
In order to decrypt and utilize the session key, the web server uses the original unique asymmetric private key.
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One of them is known as a public key, and the other is a private key. The public key can be generated from the Private key, but the Private key cannot be generated from the Public key. The private key and vice versa can only decrypt encryption done by the public key.
In SSL certificates used for encrypted communication between a client and a server, a public key is attached to the certificate, which will initiate a secure communication between two parties. Asymmetric encryption is a newer type and slower compared to symmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption is used to exchange a secret key, which is done during the initial handshake between the two parties.
The secret key exchanged is used to establish symmetric encryption for further communication. Symmetric encryption is faster than asymmetric one, so the combination of them both provides robust end-to-end security. Symmetric encryption, unlike Asymmetric encryption, uses only one key for both encryption and decryption. It is faster than asymmetric encryption, but if the key is compromised, anyone can decrypt the contents encrypted.
Therefore, asymmetric encryption is used to ensure the secret key is not compromised, and the connection remains secure. Digital certificates are widely used in PKI. A digital certificate is a unique form of identification for a person, device, server, website, and other applications. Digital certificates are used for authentication as well as validating the authenticity of an entity. It also makes it possible for two machines to establish encrypted communication and trust each other without the fear of being spoofed.
It also helps in verification, which allows in the Payment Industry, which allows e-commerce to grow and be trusted. Users can create their certificates, which can be used for internal communication between two trusted parties. Before a Certification Authority issues a certificate, the issuer makes sure that it is given to the right entity. Several checks are made, such as if they are the domain name holders, etc. The certificate is issued only after the checks are complete.
Most public certificates use a standard, machine-readable certificate format for certificate documents. It was initially called X. The format is used in many ways, such as. PKI or Public Key Infrastructure use multiple elements in their infrastructure to ensure the security it promises. PKI uses digital certificates to maintain and validate people, devices, and software accessing the infrastructure. Certification Authority or CA issues these certificates.
A Certification Authority issues and validates certificates issued to a user, device, software, a server, or another CA. CA ensures the certificates are valid and also revokes certificates and maintain their lifecycle. All certificates requested, received, and revoked by CA are stored and maintained in an encrypted certificate database. A certificate store is also used, which stores certificate history and information.
Certification Authority certifies the identity of the requestor. The requestor can be a user, application, etc. Depending upon the type of CA, security policies, and requirements for handling requests, the identification mode is determined. While setting up, a certificate template is being chosen, and the certificate is issued based on the given information upon request.
CA also release revoked lists called CRLs, which ensure invalid or unauthorized certificates cannot be used anymore. Root CA is a trusted certificate authority, has the highest hierarchy level, and serves as a trust anchor. While validating a certificate path, the root certificate is the last certificate that is checked. For the most part, Root CA remains offline and should stay air-gapped to make sure it is never compromised.
If an issuing CA fails, another can be created, but if a Root CA fails or gets compromised, the whole network needs to be recreated.
They help in issuing certificates, managing policies, etc. Their main objective is to define and authorize types of certificates that can be requested from root CA.
Certificate Revocation Lists is a list of all digital certificates that have been revoked. A certification authority populates CRLs as CA is the only entity to revoke certificates that it issues.
The revocation list is similar to a list of unauthorized entities. A certificate can expire due to the end of the lifecycle of the certificate.
While the certificate is created, it is also set for how long the certificate would remain valid. The certificate would be flagged as unauthorized and then cannot be used by someone else. In a large organization, CRLs can grow to be quite massive. Since a certificate must remain in CRL until it expires, they can stay on for several years.
To transfer the whole CRL from one server to another can take a while. This makes the transfer much shorter and updating of CRLs much quicker. It contains revoked certificates issued to Certificate Authorities rather than users, software, or other clients.
ARL is only used to manage a chain of trust. The data transferred is less, which helps the CA to parse the data. A two-tier architecture is a layout that would meet the requirements for most organizations. The root CA lies on the first tier, which should remain offline and air-gapped. Subordinate Issuing CA should be online under it.
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