Chapter 1
Security Architecture
Course: Comptia Securityx Cas 005
Subject: Comptia Securityx Cas 005 Practice Exam
Chapter: Security Engineering And Cryptography
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a framework for managing digital certificates and public-private key pairs to secure communications and ensure data integrity and authenticity. Below are detailed and expanded notes on PKI components, functionalities, and best practices.
1. PKI Hierarchy
a) Certificate Authority (CA)
- Role: The trusted entity responsible for issuing and managing digital certificates.
- Example: Let's Encrypt is a popular public CA that provides free SSL/TLS certificates.
- Security Consideration: Compromise of the CA can lead to issuance of fraudulent certificates, impacting the trust model.
b) Subordinate/Intermediate CA
- Role: Acts under the authority of the root CA to distribute trust and reduce risk.
- Example: A company might use an intermediate CA to issue certificates for internal servers while the root CA is kept offline.
- Real-Life Use Case: Google’s root CA delegates the issuance of certificates to subordinate CAs.