Certificate validation in untrusted domains

Abstract

Authentication of other parties on the Internet using a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is still an open area for research. The current authentication method consists of building a certification path connecting a trust anchor1 and the target, a public key to be validated. All the existing solutions cover the validation of a domain, which could be hierarchical, single, cross-certification or bridge [1], which holds the trust anchor and the target in the same domain of the CA root. Alternatively, the trust anchor and the target are in different domains but there is a link between the domains (cross-certification). This proposal presents a solution for domains that do not have a cross-certificate; therefore these domains could apply the proposed solution to authenticate their targets. In addition, a method for traversing and constructing a path will be presented. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.