Chapter 13 Certificates
13.3 Certificates Technical Reference
This section provides technical background information about the topics covered in this chapter.
13.3.1 Certificates Overview
The ZyXEL Device can use certificates (also called digital IDs) to authenticate users. Certificates are based on
The ZyXEL Device uses certificates based on
The certification authority uses its private key to sign certificates. Anyone can then use the certification authority’s public key to verify the certificates.
Advantages of Certificates
Certificates offer the following benefits.
•The ZyXEL Device only has to store the certificates of the certification authorities that you decide to trust, no matter how many devices you need to authenticate.
•Key distribution is simple and very secure since you can freely distribute public keys and you never need to transmit private keys.
13.3.2Private-Public Certificates
When using
These keys work like a handwritten signature (in fact, certificates are often referred to as “digital signatures”). Only you can write your signature exactly as it should look. When people know what your signature looks like, they can verify whether something was signed by you, or by someone else. In the same way, your private key “writes” your digital signature and your public key allows people to verify whether data was signed by you, or by someone else. This process works as follows.
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