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What is a Public Key Infrastructure?

A Public Key Infrastructure is a Cryptographic key and Certificate delivery system which makes possible secure financial electronic transactions and exchanges of sensitive information between relative strangers. A PKI will provide Privacy, Access control, Integrity, Authentication, and Non-repudiation support to information technology applications and electronic commerce transactions.

A PKI will:

  • manage the generation and distribution of Public/Private Key pairs; and
  • publish the Public Keys with the user's identification as "certificates" in open bulletin boards (i.e., X.500 Directory Services).
A PKI provides a high degree of confidence that:
  • Private Keys are kept secure;
  • specific Public Keys are truly linked to specific Private Keys; and
  • the party holding a Public/Private Key pair is who the party purports to be.

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