What are they?
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What Are Digital Certificates? (Tom Holleman)

Digital certificates are password-protected files the act as a "driver's license for the information superhighway" - a digital equivalent of a passport, employee badge, or credit card. They establish an individual's or server's identity when doing business or other transactions on the internet. Digital certificates are an offshoot of data encryption technology. Exchanges of certificates yield digital signatures, codes that vouch for the uniqueness and integrity of a transaction.

The X.509 standard is the one universally accepted standard for digital certificates.10

Digital certificates typically contain the following information:

the certificate holder's identity
the certificate's serial number
a valid, unchangeable date for the transaction
the certificate's expiration dates
a copy of the certificate holder's public key for encryption and/or signature

 

the identity of the issuing certificate authority and its digital signature

 

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