Digital identities and PKI

The Cornerstone of Zero Trust

Organisations’ infrastructures are increasingly becoming more complex. The distributed workforce and the explosion of connected devices – including mobile devices and IoT – are only a few cases that steer the demand for a strong digital identity approach.

“Public Key Infrastructure Supports Greater Security”

Organisations rely on digital identification as a cornerstone of Zero Trust security, enabling a passwordless architecture for users, devices, servers, and applications. There is no stronger authentication solution than the digital identity provided by PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). PKI has proven effective, flexible, reliable, and scalable in securing a wide range of authentication methods. 

PKI in Network Security

PKI is an acronym for Public Key Infrastructure and governs the issuance of digital certificates. It manages the public keys used by the network for public-key encryption, identity management, certificate distribution, certificate revocation, and certificate management. 

“PKI Enables Strong Certificate-based Security”

Digital certificates offer the highest security and protect critical corporate data, providing unique digital identities for users and devices. A digital certificate is comparable to a passport or an identity card as they too are a type of identification that proves your identity and provides a certain allowance. Moreover, they are also hard to forge.

The Principle of PKI

PKI relies on digital signature technology, which uses public-key cryptography by generating a private and public key. The users and devices that have keys are called entities. The principle of PKI is that that entity only knows the private key of each entity. In contrast, the public key can be made available to anyone. 

Another crucial element of the PKI is the certificate authority (CA). The CA is the trusted party issuing the digital certificates. Users and devices generate their public key, which the CA then signs to bind the user’s name to their public key securely. The CA thus acts as an agent of trust in a PKI.

The Certificate Authority (CA) - Key Features

Distinguished Name

The unique name plus any other attributes uniquely identifying the user requesting the certificate.

Certificate Holder’s Public Key

The unique name plus any other attributes uniquely identifying the user requesting the certificate.
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