Getting to know the terms and technical glossary for an app feature can help you better understand it.
PEM (Privacy-Enhanced Mail): A file format that encapsulates cryptographic data, often used for storing and sending cryptographic keys and certificates in a Base64 encoded format.
Certificate Authority (CA): An entity that issues digital certificates, confirming the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate.
Digital Certificate: An electronic document used to prove the ownership of a public key. It includes information about the key, the identity of its owner, and the digital signature of the CA.
Public Key: A cryptographic key that can be shared publicly and is used for encrypting data or verifying signatures.
Private Key: A secret cryptographic key that is used to decrypt data encrypted with the corresponding public key or to create digital signatures.
X.509: A standard that defines the format of public key certificates, widely used in various security protocols.
Base64 Encoding: A method of converting binary data into an ASCII string format by translating it into a radix-64 representation, commonly used in PEM files.
Certificate Signing Request (CSR): A message sent from an applicant to a CA to request a digital certificate, containing the public key and identifying information.
Key Pair: A set of two cryptographic keys, one public and one private, used for secure communication.
Self-Signed Certificate: A digital certificate that is signed by the same entity that created it, rather than by a trusted CA.
Trust Chain: A sequence of certificates, where each certificate in the chain is signed by the subsequent certificate, leading back to a trusted root certificate.
Root Certificate: The top certificate in a certificate hierarchy that is trusted by default by applications and browsers. It is used to verify the authenticity of other certificates.
Intermediate Certificate: A certificate that is signed by a root certificate and is used to sign other certificates, forming a bridge in the trust chain.
Certificate Revocation List (CRL): A list of certificates that have been revoked before their expiration date, maintained by the CA.
Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP): A protocol used to check the revocation status of a digital certificate in real-time.
SSL/TLS: Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security, cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication over a computer network, often utilizing PEM certificates.
Encryption: The process of converting plaintext into ciphertext to protect the information from unauthorized access.
Decryption: The process of converting ciphertext back into plaintext, making the information readable again, typically using a private key.
Key Management: The process of managing cryptographic keys, including their generation, distribution, storage, and destruction.
Certificate Policy (CP): A document that outlines the practices and procedures followed by a CA in issuing and managing certificates, defining the security requirements for the certificates.