Introduction to public key technology and the federal PKI infrastructure

Original publisher: [Gaithersburg, MD] : National Institute of Standards and Technology, [2001] OCLC Number: (OCoLC)70687385 Subject: Public key infrastructure (Computer security) Excerpt: ... UBLIC EY NFRASTRUCTURES 3 P K I A public key infrastructure ( PKI ) binds public keys to entities, enables other entities to verify public key bindings, and provides the services needed for ongoing management of keys in a distributed system. The overall goals of modern security architectures are to protect and distribute information that is needed in a widely distributed environment, where the users, resources and stake-holders may all be in different places at different times. The emerging approach to address these security needs makes use of the scalable and distributed characteristics of public key infrastructure ( " PKI " ). PKI allows you to conduct business electronically with the confidence that: • The person or process identified as sending the transaction is actually the originator. • The person or process receiving the transaction is the intended recipient. • Data integrity has not been compromised. In conventional business transactions, customers and merchants rely on credit cards ( e.g., VISA or MasterCard ) to complete the financial aspects of transactions. The merchant may authenticate the customer through signature comparison or by checking identification, such as a driver's license. The merchant relies on the information on the credit card and status information obtained from the credit card issuer to ensure that payment will be received. Similarly, the customer performs the transaction knowing they can reject the bill if the merchant fails to provide the goods or services. The credit card issuer is the trusted third party in this type of transaction. The same model is often applied in electronic commerce, even though the customer and issuer may never meet. The merchant cannot check the signature or request identification information. At best, the merchan...