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@page Security_intro_certificates Certificates+
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A @ref certificate binds a public key to a certain individual/entity. This is usually done using @ref digital_signature "digital signatures": if a +
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@ref certificate bearing a public key and an individual's name is signed with a key pair which you already trust, then you can +
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rest assure that the public key in the @ref certificate really does belong to the individual named in the @ref certificate.+
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Different standards using public key cryptography employ different models for using certificates to establish trust. +
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Such a model, encompassing data structures, rules for their use, and users of them, may be referred to as a +
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@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 +
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hierarchical @ref PKI in which users are certified by @ref CA "Certification Authorities" (CAs). +
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All data which appear in the interface between the Symbian OS and the rest of the world need a transport encoding, and it +
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is in this form that they are sent and received. The transport encoding for @ref X509 "X.509" data structures is @ref DER encoded+
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@ref ASN "ASN.1".+
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@section certification_authorities Certification Authorities+
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@ref CA "Certification Authorities" (CAs) are trusted third parties which perform the following functions in the @ref PKIX public +
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key infrastructure:+
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@li provide trusted 'root' certificates to users (@ref EE "End Entities"), by supplying them with the @ref CA's public key +
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@li certifying End Entities: checking that they are who they say they are, and generating certificates for them. The +
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certified End Entity is the \b subject of the @ref certificate: the @ref CA is the \b issuer+
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@li supporting @ref certificate revocation and revocation checking: if an End Entity suspects that their key has been +
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compromised, they contact the Certification Authority which issued it. @ref CA "CA"s publish lists of revoked certificates +
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(known as @ref CRL "Certificate Revocation Lists") at regular intervals, which End Entities can use to check that +
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certificates sent to them have not been revoked +
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@li publishing certificates: the most likely place for this is an LDAP directory, since @ref X509_certificate "X.509 certificates" identify +
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their subjects and issuers by describing a path through an X.500 directory +
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