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Digital Certificates - How

  • example of hierarchy:
    • Eric approaches me and says, "Hey. I'm Eric."
    • So I check his ID, and find out that the CA is Tim.
    • Tim's Digital Signature is on the ID, but who is this Tim person, and how do I know this is his signature?
    • But attached is another ID, issued by Professor Paturi.
    • Ok, I know Paturi, and I have his public key so I can verify his digital signature.
    • I also know that Paturi only gives IDs to CAs that do blood sampling before giving out IDs.
    • The signature passes.
    • So I trust Paturi, so I believe that this is Tim's signature, so therefore I believe that this guy is indeed Eric.


Copyright 1997 by Slackers Union. Comments should go to any of the group members. Opinions reflected on this page are by no means opinions of UCSD. Go sue somebody else.

Last Modified: June 2st, 1997