Certificate authority

In cryptography, a certificate authority or certification authority (CA) is an entity which issues digital certificates for use by other parties. It is an example of a trusted third party. CA's are characteristic of many public key infrastructure (PKI) schemes.

Related Topics:
Cryptography - Certificates - Trusted third party - Public key infrastructure

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There are many commercial CAs that charge for their services. Institutions and governments may have their own CAs, and there are free CAs, for example, CAcert.

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