What Is Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and How Does It Work?

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PKI, or public key infrastructure, encompasses everything used to establish and manage public key encryption. This includes software, hardware, policies, and procedures that are used to create, distribute, manage, store, and revoke digital certificates.

A digital certificate cryptographically links a public key with the device or user who owns it. This helps to authenticate users and devices and ensure secure digital communications.

PKI is one of the most common forms of internet encryption, and it is used to secure and authenticate traffic between web browsers and web servers. It can also be used to secure access to connected devices and internal communications within an organisation.

Public key infrastructure has a long history of securing and authenticating digital communications with two main goals: to ensure the privacy of the message being sent and to verify that the sender is who they claim to be.

What is public key infrastructure (PKI)?

Public key infrastructure is an important aspect of internet security. It is the set of technology and processes that make up a framework of encryption to protect and authenticate digital communications.

PKI uses cryptographic public keys that are connected to a digital certificate, which authenticates the device or user sending the digital communication.