Digital Certificate?

[Microbyte]

Does somebody has a good definition for digital certificate?
I can't find it in my old Cisco Press.
I've looked Cisco.com and came short to realize that it has something to do with validation and certification of users accessing the server. But that does not saying much to me.
thanks in advance!


Microbyte

 

[jdel]

Cheers

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci211947,00.html

A digital certificate is an electronic "credit card" that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. It is issued by a certification authority (CA). It contains your name, a serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real. Some digital certificates conform to a standard, X.509. Digital certificates can be kept in registries so that authenticating users can look up other users' public keys

 

[Jsteve]

this is definatly a microsoft area. If you look at their web site, you will find tons of info.

The simplest definition I have heard on digital certficate is that it is like in the old days when someone sent a private letter with a wax seal and stamp, so when the receiving party would looked at the seal to see if the wax was broken and the letter compromised.

This is the manner inwhich email is sent with a digital certificate.

This is one of the features of CA.