Certificate

X.509

A digital certificate is an electronic document that uses a digital signature to bind a public key to an identity (person, device, or service) — issued and verified by a Certificate Authority (CA).

PKI Authentication NHI Cryptography

❓ What is Certificate?

A digital certificate is an electronic document that uses a digital signature to bind a public key to an identity (person, device, or service) — issued and verified by a Certificate Authority (CA).

⚙️ How Does It Work?

The CA verifies the identity of the requesting entity and issues a certificate containing the public key, identity information, validity period, and CA signature. Relying parties trust the certificate because they trust the CA.

📍 Where Is It Used?

TLS/HTTPS (website security), mutual TLS (mTLS) for service-to-service authentication, client certificates for device identity, code signing, email encryption (S/MIME).

💡 Real-World Example

A company's microservices use mutual TLS with X.509 certificates for service-to-service authentication. Each service has its own certificate issued by the internal CA. When Service A calls Service B, both present certificates — verifying each other's identity without passwords.

🔗 Related Terms

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