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PKI Last modified: Thursday, October 23, 2008

Short for public key infrastructure, a system of digital certificates, Certificate Authorities, and other registration authorities that verify and authenticate the validity of each party involved in an Internet transaction. PKIs are currently evolving and there is no single PKI nor even a single agreed-upon standard for setting up a PKI. However, nearly everyone agrees that reliable PKIs are necessary before electronic commerce can become widespread. A PKI is also called a trust hierarchy.

IETF Public Key Infrastructure Working Group Charter Describes the IETF public key infrastructure (X.509) working group and includes contact and mailing list information and links to Internet draft documents. NIST public key infrastructure program page National Institute of Standards and Technology's page on public key infrastructure. It contains links to their PKI activities, specifications, presentations, and documents. X/Open's public key infrastructure page This page highlights X/Open's involvement in the effort to define a common architecture for a public key infrastructure. Included on this page are links to working drafts, documents, statements and contact information. Webopedia's "Did You Know...?" Section Use this Webopedia knowledge section for an in-depth overview of specific technologies and occurrences in the areas of Computer Science, The Internet, and Computer Hardware and Software. Webopedia's Quick Reference Section Use this Webopedia reference section for information on common Internet and computer facts and occurrences.