Public CA Meaning
A Public Certificate Authority (Public CA) is a trusted third-party organization that provides digital certificates to verify the identity of entities on the Internet. A digital certificate is also commonly referred to as an SSL/TLS certificate.
Public CAs issue certificates to clients and servers to create secure conversations. Public CAs are trusted organizations, with their certificates trusted by most web browsers, operating systems, and devices.
Public CAs are responsible for authenticating the owner of the certificate, be it a website or server, in addition to ensuring the security and confidentiality of any data shared between the entities.
Public CAs are utilized by the majority of web browsers and operating systems, and therefore all their certificates are trusted out of the box.
In these situations, the Public CA is trusted behind the scenes based on its reputation, compliance to regulations, and the adherence to industry standards, documented by organizations such as the CA/Browser Forum.
The certificates issued by Public CAs are used for more than securing HTTPS connections between client and server. Some typical examples of uses for Public CA-issued certificates include: valid email signatures and authentication, and verifying software applications.
When to Use a Public Certificate CA?
Public Websites
Public Certificate Authorities (CAs) are a natural fit for securing any website meant to be consumed by a general, and possibly broad, audience. Even an internal website that has meaningful public-facing features (e.g. eliving.ca) should consider using a Public CA.
Public CA certificates are fantastic for websites that offer e-commerce, banking, financial, and general information. With a Public CA, these kinds of websites will be able to have secure HTTPS connections.
Public CA certificates are recognized by all popular browsers and operating systems and provide encryption for any sensitive information that is exchanged between the user and the website - for example payment method details, or personal information.
Global Recognition
An important takeaway about the use of a Public CA is the level of global recognition. Public CA certificates are trusted directly by all popular browsers, operating systems, or devices, without the need for additional configuration, or manual installation of root certificates.
This level of recognition becomes critical for domains like websites, email servers, and software, where a general level of trust and security is required for a wide variety of users including customers, clients and more external parties that may not have knowledge of or access to your internal services.
SSL Encryption
Public CAs are often used to secure the transportation of data over the Internet using SSL/TLS encryption.
This provides encryption for sensitive data, such as login names, login passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal data, offered to a website and sent over the Internet from the web server to the user's web browser or vice versa.
The protocol will protect against any eavesdropping, data tampering, or man-in-the-middle attacks. Therefore, obtaining SSL/TLS encryption is necessary for any service that requires secure communication.
Code Signing
Another use case for a Public CA is code signing. Both developers and software vendors use Public CAs certificates to sign their software to ensure that it hasn't been altered since its original signature, and it is from a trusted source.
This solves the problem of malware masquerading as legitimate software by assuring that the "code" is real and good, so the user can feel confident downloading and running the software.
Secure Email
Public CAs are also widely used to secure email communications using technologies such as S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
A Public CA certificate will effectively ensure that none of the content of an email is accessible to unauthorized access by encrypting email messages and applying digital signatures.
Furthermore, this technology supports the verification and identification of the person drafting the email.
Email security is essential for organizations that conduct business involving sensitive communications, ranging from legal documents to contracts and financial discussions.
Global Trust
When an organization needs its certificate to be trusted widely, typically, a Public CA offers the best options.
Public certificates come from trusted sources, thus, a known Public CA certificate is automatically trusted by devices and browsers, so users are not distracted by having to manually install certificates or to configure trust settings.
A publicly trusted certificate supports an organization's ability to connect and build trust globally, with no distractions creating overhead for manual intervention.
Third-Party Trust
Public certificate authorities (CAs) become particularly necessary in cases when an external party, like customers, partners or suppliers, need to place trust in your communications or services.
For example, if an online retail shop wants customers to trust a secure payment process, then a Public CA certificate is used, and the customers can trust the authenticity and secure communications or services that the shop provides without having to do any manual verification or installation of certificates on their systems.
Keep Reading - https://certera.com/blog/what-is-private-pki-vs-public-pki-uses-and-key-differences/
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