Certificate Policies

Abstract

In the previous chapter we introduced CSPs that manage the life cycle of certificates in a hierarchical PKI. CSPs follow certain rules which are called certificate policies. They determine the applicability of a certificate to a particular community or class of applications with common security requirements. Therefore, certificate policies that a CSP applies while generating and managing certificates are made explicit and available to the certificate users. In addition, the CSP may describe the implementation of the policy in a certification practice statement (CPS). In this chapter we discuss certificate policies and certification practice statements.