cryptomgmtlibs/securitydocs/doxygen_docs/Security_intro_certificates.dox
author savpatil@2INL09984
Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:59:39 +0530
changeset 11 9d767430696e
parent 8 35751d3474b7
permissions -rw-r--r--
Merged in changes from the tip of RCL_1 branch which includes fixes for Bug 284, Bug 383, Bug 287. These were wiped out from when the S^3 code drop came in.

/**
@page Security_intro_certificates Certificates

A @ref certificate binds a public key to a certain individual/entity. This is usually done using @ref digital_signature "digital signatures": if a 
@ref certificate bearing a public key and an individual's name is signed with a key pair which you already trust, then you can 
rest assure that the public key in the @ref certificate really does belong to the individual named in the @ref certificate.

Different standards using public key cryptography employ different models for using certificates to establish trust. 
Such a model, encompassing data structures, rules for their use, and users of them, may be referred to as a 
@ref PKI "Public Key Infrastructure" (PKI). @ref SSL, @ref TLS and @ref SMIME "S/MIME" all use @ref X509 "X.509" v.3 certificates, and a 
hierarchical @ref PKI in which users are certified by @ref CA "Certification Authorities" (CAs). 

All data which appear in the interface between the Symbian OS and the rest of the world need a transport encoding, and it 
is in this form that they are sent and received. The transport encoding for @ref X509 "X.509" data structures is @ref DER encoded
@ref ASN "ASN.1".

@section certification_authorities Certification Authorities

@ref CA "Certification Authorities" (CAs) are trusted third parties which perform the following functions in the @ref PKIX public 
key infrastructure:

@li provide trusted 'root' certificates to users (@ref EE "End Entities"), by supplying them with the @ref CA's public key 
@li certifying End Entities: checking that they are who they say they are, and generating certificates for them. The 
certified End Entity is the \b subject of the @ref certificate: the @ref CA is the \b issuer
@li supporting @ref certificate revocation and revocation checking: if an End Entity suspects that their key has been 
compromised, they contact the Certification Authority which issued it. @ref CA "CA"s publish lists of revoked certificates 
(known as @ref CRL "Certificate Revocation Lists") at regular intervals, which End Entities can use to check that 
certificates sent to them have not been revoked 
@li publishing certificates: the most likely place for this is an LDAP directory, since @ref X509_certificate "X.509 certificates" identify 
their subjects and issuers by describing a path through an X.500 directory 


*/