Whois & Analysis for digicert.com

In cryptography, a certificate authority or certification authority (CA) is an entity that issues digital certificates.

A digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate.

This allows others (relying parties) to rely upon signatures or on assertions made about the private key that corresponds to the certified public key.

A CA acts as a trusted third party—trusted both by the subject (owner) of the certificate and by the party relying upon the certificate.

The format of these certificates is specified by the X.509 standard.

DigiCert Inc is a privately held, US based X.509 SSL certificate authority (CA).

As a trusted third party, DigiCert verifies the authenticity of secure websites on behalf of a web browser.

In cryptography, a public key certificate, also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate, is an electronic document used to prove the ownership of a public key.

The certificate includes information about the key, information about the identity of its owner (called the subject), and the digital signature of an entity that has verified the certificate's contents (called the issuer).

If the signature is valid, and the software examining the certificate trusts the issuer, then it can use that key to communicate securely with the certificate's subject.

In email encryption, code signing, and e-signature systems, a certificate's subject is typically a person or organization.

However, in Transport Layer Security (TLS) a certificate's subject is typically a computer or other device, though TLS certificates may identify organizations or individuals in addition to their core role in identifying devices.

TLS, sometimes called by its older name Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), is notable for being a part of HTTPS, a protocol for securely browsing the web.

In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding a message or information in such a way that only authorized parties can access it.

Encryption does not of itself prevent interference, but denies the intelligible content to a would-be interceptor.

In an encryption scheme, the intended information or message, referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, generating ciphertext that can only be read if decrypted.

For technical reasons, an encryption scheme usually uses a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm.

It is in principle possible to decrypt the message without possessing the key, but, for a well-designed encryption scheme, considerable computational resources and skills are required.

An authorized recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key provided by the originator to recipients but not to unauthorized users.

Authentication (from authentikos, "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης authentes, "author") is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a single piece of data (a datum) claimed true by an entity.

In contrast with identification, which refers to the act of stating or otherwise indicating a claim purportedly attesting to a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of actually confirming that identity.

It might involve confirming the identity of a person by validating their identity documents, verifying the authenticity of a website with a digital certificate, determining the age of an artifact by carbon dating, or ensuring that a product is what its packaging and labeling claim to be.

In other words, authentication often involves verifying the validity of at least one form of identification.