Of course, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an essential tool that helps govern the issuance of digital certificates to protect sensitive data, provide unique digital identities for users, devices, and applications, and secure end-to-end communications. PKI is crucial because the encryption and authentication it manages and makes possible ensures trustworthy, secure communication online.
The essential role of the Public Key Infrastructure is the issuance, encryption, authentication, authorization, security, and management of various security certificates. These certificates help authenticate the identity of users, devices, or services. They are created through a process that involves asymmetric encryption, where a private key is created and a corresponding public key is computed.
Having a strategic Public Key Infrastructure is crucial because the encryption and authentication it manages and makes possible ensures trustworthy, secure communication online. For an enterprise, PKI can make the difference between an intruder gaining access to the network through a connected device and keeping a potentially dangerous threat away from the organization.
For instance, as we’ll discuss herein, a custom Public Key Infrastructure can help address the problem of managing certificates. It does this by vetting each one to make sure it is valid. Also, PKI includes methods for getting rid of illegitimate certificates that have been either stolen or lost. Still, it can also revoke certificates after they have expired or have been otherwise compromised.
Why The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Matters In Computing
Technically, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a set of tools, policies, and procedures that allow for the creation, management, and use of digital certificates and public keys. As a tool, the Public Key Infrastructure helps create and manage Public Keys For Encryption, which is a common method of securing data transfers on the internet. PKI is built into all web browsers used today.
The most important concept associated with PKI is the Cryptographic Keys that are part of the encryption process and serve to authenticate different people or devices attempting to communicate with the network. Eventually, it helps secure public internet traffic. Organizations can use it to secure the communications they send back and forth internally and connect their devices securely.
As a rule of thumb, the Public Key Infrastructure helps foster cloud computing security for businesses and ensure safety protection for Internet users. In this case, it uses digital certificates to verify the identity of connected devices. Eventually, it keeps the information private while ensuring the integrity of the code. No matter how you look at it, the process is straightforwardly simple.
On the one hand, the Public Key Infrastructure can be used to secure data transfers, verify identities, and create secure connections for public web pages and private systems. On the other hand, the Public Key Infrastructure is built into all web browsers with 360-degree protection features. Thus, it can be used by organizations to secure internal communications and connected devices.
The Public Key Infrastructure Components Helping Deliver Security
PKI helps implement certificates and key technologies. A key is a long number used to encrypt data. Each element of a message gets encrypted using the key formula. For example, if you want to write a message where every letter is replaced by the letter after it, then A will become B, C will be D, etc. Someone with this key will get what looks like a nonsensical message and decrypt it.
Certificates, which are issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) such as DigiCert IoT Trust Manager, let you know the person or device you want to communicate with is actually who they claim to be. When the correct certificate is associated with a device, the device is considered authentic. The validity of the certificate can be authenticated through a system that checks whether it is real or not.
It’s worth mentioning that the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is built around a set of components and procedures for managing public and private key pairs. The systematic PKI tool consists of various components which include: Certification Authority, Digital Certificates, Registration Authority, Validation Authority, Public Key, Private KePublic key cryptography, and Secure Storage.
The Public Key Infrastructure keying involves advanced mathematical concepts that are much more complicated. With the alphabetic example above, there is one key, and if the recipient has it, they can easily decrypt the message. With PKI, on the other hand, there are two keys: a private and a public one. Anyone who wants it can publicly use it to encode a message that someone sends.
Key Types:
- Public Key: A Public Key is a cryptographic mathematical key that has public availability and does not require secure storage. Messages encrypted by the public key can only be decrypted by the corresponding private key.
- Private Key: The recipient uses a private key to decrypt a message encrypted with a public key. Since the message is encrypted with a specific public key, it can only be decrypted with the corresponding private key. This establishes ownership of the private and public keys, ensuring that the message is only read by those who have been authorized.
By all means, a private key is what you use to decrypt the message after you get it. The keys are connected using a complex mathematical equation. However, you must remember that even though the private and public keys are connected, the connection is facilitated by this complex equation. It’s, therefore, extremely difficult to ascertain the private key by using data from the public key.
Methods:
- Encryption: A process where a verified certificate creates an encrypted link and allows information to be transmitted privately.
- Authentication: A process where certificates for devices validate identities to ensure only authorized users, messages, or other types of servers have access to the device.
- Authorization: A stage where certificates ensure there’s no alteration to messages or data transferred between devices.
If it’s connected, it needs IoT trust — most consumers don’t trust the security of their smart IoT technologies. To help foster proven IoT security for home and consumer devices, a Smart Security Provider can integrate various encryption techniques to help protect private data and guard against unauthorized access for home and consumer IoT devices. That’s digital trust for the real world.
Hardware Security Module (HSM) improves the overall security by safeguarding and managing digital keys, laying the foundation for a secure enterprise PKI infrastructure. Such an HSM helps conceal and protect cryptographic data. It contributes to managing the entire cryptographic keys lifecycle (key creation, rotation, deletion, auditing, and API integration with various applications).
From that point of view, we can say that Digital Certificates enable PKI to function. A digital certificate serves as an electronic identification that facilitates the verification of identities between users during online transactions. With encryption, PKI enables secure connections between two communicating machines because the identities of the two parties can be verified using certificates.
Symmetric Encryption
Symmetric Encryption refers to a relatively straightforward algorithm used to encrypt data. The encryption is very difficult to crack because what is put into the permutation process does not always come out the same. For example, the letter A may come out as a group of two characters, such as “4T,” the first time it is entered. But then, it can also come out as “Y8” the second time it is entered.
This makes it hard to derive the equation being used. During World War II, Germany used symmetric encryption to transmit private messages. However, the symmetric encryption process is pretty simple.
Consider the following:
- A message is typed using plain, regular text.
- It is then run through a series of permutations that encrypt it.
Remember, the word “symmetric” applies to the fact that you need the same key to both encrypt and decrypt the message. Even though it is difficult to figure out the key, the fact that only one key carries the solution to both the encryption and the decryption adds an element of risk. After all, if someone compromises the channel that shares the key, the system can be broken.
Asymmetric Encryption
The risk of symmetric encryption is solved with asymmetric encryption. With asymmetric encryption, two different keys are created to encrypt messages: the public key and the private one. The message still has to pass through complicated mathematical permutations to get encrypted. However, the private key decrypts it, and the public key encrypts it.
For your information, the mathematical properties used to make public and private keys today are Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC), Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), and Diffie-Hellman. It’s also worth noting that each uses different algorithms to make encryption keys. However, they each share the same overall principles regarding how the public and private keys are related.
For example, the RSA 2048 algorithm generates two random prime numbers that are each 1024 bits in length. These are then multiplied by each other. The answer to that problem ends up being the public key. The two random prime numbers used are the private key. If the two prime numbers are smaller, including, for instance, only two digits, it will be relatively easy for a program.
One thing is sure: The program can figure out what they are. However, because they each have 1024 digits, it is extremely difficult to figure them out — even when you know the product of the equation. Another significant technicality is ensuring that strong passwords, updated algorithms, asymmetric encryption keys, and other security protocols are in place and always up to date.
Database Encryption
Sensitive data exposure or data leakage is one of the most common forms of cyberattack. Sensitive data, like credit card information, medical details, Social Security numbers, and user passwords, can be exposed if a web application does not protect it effectively. Attackers who can access and steal this information can use it as part of wider attacks or sell it to third parties.
Protecting sensitive data is increasingly important given the stringent rules and punishments of data and privacy regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). To do so, organizations must be able to protect data at rest and data in transit between servers and web browsers. Markedly, data content on any given website can be fully protected.
Webmasters use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, which establishes an encrypted link between a web browser and a server. It also protects data integrity when in transit between a server or firewall and the web browser. Sensitive data exposure can also be prevented by encrypting it through secure encryption processes and protecting stored passwords with strong hashing functions.
Key Providers: Certification, Registration & Validation Authorities
In general, the Certificate Authority (CA) manages all aspects of PKI certificate management, including the phases of certificate lifecycle management. A CA issues certificates to be used to verify that the subject imprinted on the certificate is the owner of the public key – therefore, authenticating the digital identity of the user. In a PKI system, the client generates a public-private key pair.
The public key and information to be imprinted on the certificate are sent to the CA. The CA then creates a digital certificate consisting of the user’s public key and certificate attributes. The certificate is signed by the CA with its private key. CAs validate organizations, people, and devices by issuing digital certificates, and it is these certificates that are used to encrypt transactions.
Equally important, these certificates help protect information and enable secure communication. Therefore, a public CA plays a key role in creating a chain of external trust. Becoming a public CA requires resources, money, and certain requirements that have to be met as a minimum. Notably, it’s worth mentioning that two types of certificate authorities help with the certification process.
They are as follows:
- Public Certificate Authority: A third party that browsers, individuals, operating systems, and applications implicitly trust to issue digital certificates for use in public channels.
- Private Certificate Authority: An internal entity that issues digital certificates that are only known and trusted inside the organization’s internal network and IT environment.
Trusted CA’s need to undergo regular audit checks by independent parties, adhere to industry guidelines, and maintain best practices to secure their infrastructure. Thus, certificate authorities validate organizations, people, and devices by issuing digital certificates, and it is these certificates that are used to encrypt transactions, protect information, and enable secure communication.
Next, the Certificate Authority (CA) authorizes the Registration Authority (RA) to provide digital certificates to users on a case-by-case basis. An encrypted certificate database stores all certificates requested, received, and revoked by both the Certificate Authority and the Registration Authority. Usually, the certificate history and information are stored in what is known as a certificate store.
The store is typically located on a specific computer. It serves as a storage space for all memory related to the certificate history, including issued certificates and private encryption keys. A certificate store can potentially contain certificates from multiple CAs. Lastly, a Validation Authority (VA) enables a business or a company to ensure that a certificate has not been revoked.
To protect the key from compromise, the CA and the end entity must have a method of securely storing a private key. In most cases, the VA function is performed by an online facility hosted by an organization that manages the PKI. A validation authority will frequently use the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) or Certificate Revocation List (CRL) to advertise revoked certificates.
Getting Started With The Public Key Infrastructure Certificates
PKI certificates refer to documents that grant an entity permission to engage in the exchange of PKI keys. They are similar to passports that carry an identity unique to the holder. Without this passport, the entity is not allowed to participate in the exchange of PKI-encrypted data. A security certificate includes the public key and is used to share the public key between two parties.
The certificate also includes official attestation from a source that both entities trust. This confirms the identity of the entity engaging in the digital interaction. The source that issues the certificate is referred to as the CA. PKI certificates also involve a Registration Authority (RA), which receives the signing requests for certificates. The signing request facilitates certificate issuance/renewal.
PKI certificates are given to things, people, or applications. Certificates are stored within a certificate database. This is on a server that hosts the CA. The CA information is also kept on the local device or computer used to engage in the communication. The CA certificate storage is called the certificate database, while the local storage on the device or computer is called a certificate store.
Another important facet is the certificate policy — a document that aims to identify each entity involved in a PKI interaction and outline their respective roles. The certificate policy is published within what is called the PKI perimeter. In the case of X.509 certificates, a link can be included in a certain field within the PKI perimeter, and this link is associated with the certificate policy.
Other General Aspects:
- Digital Certificates: PKI issues digital certificates that authenticate the identity of users, devices, or services. Digital certificates are similar to driver’s licenses, as they are difficult to spoof, include information that identifies the owner, and have an expiration date.
- Cryptographic Keys: These keys are used to authenticate different people or devices attempting to communicate with a network. The private key is only known by the entity that created it, while the public key is made available to anyone.
- Certificate Authorization: PKI establishes trust through a chain of trust developed and maintained by a Certificate Authority (CA). There are two types of CAs: Root Certificate Authority and Intermediate Certificate Authority.
- Cryptographic Encryption: PKI uses public key cryptography, which is a method of encryption that uses a shared public key and a private key unique to each user. The public key is used for encryption, while the private key is used for decryption.
- Browser Security: PKI is built into web browsers and is used to secure public internet traffic. Organizations can also use PKI to secure internal communications and ensure that connected devices can connect securely.
For your information, adding encryption — or poor encryption — comes with a cost. Encryption requires both time and effort to implement it. This includes figuring out which internal communications must be encrypted and what this will involve for the systems and people who use them. For example, some organizations have to roll out encryption policies for IoT devices.
This also includes all those gadgets connected to their network. Without proper organization, this kind of endeavor can consume large amounts of time and human resources. Poor encryption may result in further problems, particularly if it is responsible for a breach. With the help of the Public Key Infrastructure Tools, you can create and manage public keys for encryption seamlessly.
The Most Common Certifications:
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS): In HTTPS, the certificates identify each website the user tries to reach to make sure the messages sent back and forth are not intercepted or changed. If someone gains unauthorized access, they can engage in fraudulent activity, such as sending fake wire transfers or taking people’s credit card information. HTTPS can also help prevent a range of Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks because the hacker has to know how to decrypt the information to effectively intercept and then change or steal the data being sent between two entities. When the communicating parties have to encrypt their messages, not only is key data kept secure but so are passwords and other private information that hackers want to get their hands on.
- Secure Shell (SSH): SSH provides authentication for computers and users, and uses X.509 certificates. Although different SSH protocols can use different certificate formats, they all perform the same basic function: making sure users and computers are who they claim to be.
- Signing And Encrypting Emails: Certificates also come into play when you have to make sure your email communications are secure. As with SSH, there are different options for the implementation of PKI certificates for sending emails, but they perform the same essential functions: securing emails that get sent and received, while also ensuring the sender and receiver are who they claim to be.
Remember, the process of creating a certificate follows several, logical steps. First, a private key is created, which is used to calculate the public key. Then, the CA requires the private key owner’s attributes presented for verification. After that, the public key and the owner’s attributes are encoded into a digital signature known as a certificate signing request (CSR).
This then gets signed by the owner of the key. The signature the owner provides serves as proof that they are the rightful possessor of the private key. The final step involves the CA. The CSR gets validated by the CA, which then also adds its signature to the certificate using the CA’s private key. At this point, the certificate is considered legitimate, and communication can commence.
The Topmost Common Challenges That PKI Systems Helps Solve
PKI helps solve various key challenges. One of the primary issues it addresses is when hackers seek to leverage MITM attacks to intercept and alter or steal information. The “man” attempting to get in the middle will not have the private key needed to decrypt the message. Therefore, the best they can do is to intercept it. Decrypting a 2048-bit encryption takes enormous computing power.
This makes the Public Key Infrastructure a strong solution for the prevention of these types of digital assaults. At the organizational level, PKI can assist organizations in forming a system of discovering and managing certificate data. In this way, the organization can automate the applications and devices that they want to have certificates, as well as where the certificates come from.
Get Started: How To Put A Stop To Disruptive Certificate Outages
Generally speaking, regardless of the specific use case, the Public Key Infrastructure provides a more secure form of communication in a world that relies on the digital transfer of information. Unfortunately, the increasing number of devices introduced to the internet every day makes it a challenge to confirm the security of communications. The gap between users and hackers is thin.
In particular, this is because devices can be used to impersonate others or intercept communications. Fortunately, the Public Key Infrastructure is an innovative system that precludes the easy exploitation of digital communications. That’s not all! Given the ever-evolving cloud computing technology, there are many other challenges that the innovative Public Key Infrastructure solves.
In Summary;
The role of Public Key Infrastructure in empowering cloud computing security is invaluable. For example, if your email account is secured by adequate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), PKI can make it possible for you to send sensitive information such as your phone number to another person, given their email account is equally secure. Also, a company may need to push an update.
They can utilize the power of the Public Key Infrastructure to push an update to a fleet of Internet of Things (IoT) devices without having to worry about a virus being injected into the data stream by a hacker. On the other side, if PKI is not executed properly, some significant risks arise, and communications can fail to go through. For example, a digital outage is one of the notable PKI risks.
Explore: Solutions For Centralized Cryptographic Keys Management And Protection
This is generally when there is a failure within the network or with a connected device, which can result in a message not going through. In this case, however, it is unlikely that data will be intercepted by a malicious party. At the same time, an unsecured digital identity can pose a more serious issue — someone can use an expired certificate to pretend to be someone they are not.
Similarly, failed audits or compromised CAs can result in leaked data. To prevent this, a specific team must be put in charge of managing the public key infrastructure. This can be the IT team or the networking team, instead of leaving it as an unassigned responsibility. No matter how you look at it, utilizing a security solution such as the DigiCert Device Trust Manager is the best way.
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