Examining a certificate
The foundation of a PKI is the contents of an X.509 certificate. X.509 is the format a CA uses to provide assurance that a public key belongs to an entity contained within a certificate.
In this section, we'll take a high-level look at a certificate and then see what's involved in the X.509 standard. Then, we'll see the different ways a certificate can be validated and compare the many ways one can be used today.
Let's start with taking a high-level look at a certificate.
Viewing a certificate
When you are on a secure site, you will see a lock. When selected, the dialog box will drop down and assure you that the site is secure, as shown here using Mozilla:
Figure 8.15 – Google secure connection
While in the Mozilla browser, if you select the arrow to the right of the Connection secure notification, you can expand the information. You can then select more information (found at the bottom of...
