Public key infrastructure with the Dogtag certificate system

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Article from Issue 101/2009
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If you are looking for more control of your public key infrastructure, try the powerful Dogtag certificate system.

Asymmetric cryptography provides a powerful and convenient means for encrypting Internet communications. In this scenario, each entity involved in the encryption system possesses a pair of keys: a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt data or to validate signatures. Data encrypted with the public key is then decrypted with the matching private key.

If Alice wants to send an encrypted message to Bob, she needs to obtain Bob’s public key for her key ring. Encryption software on Alice’s computer then uses Bob’s public key to encrypt the message, and Bob’s computer uses Bob’s private key to decrypt it.

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