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Problem - Kevin Tafuro

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CAs, both public and private. For the purposes of this discussion, we will investigate<br />

what is necessary to obtain three different types of certificates from a public CA.<br />

While VeriSign is certainly not the only public CA, it is perhaps the most established<br />

one and offers the widest variety of certificates for a variety of uses. VeriSign’s offerings<br />

range from personal certificates for use with S/MIME to enterprise solutions<br />

that are more sophisticated. In this recipe, we’ll find out how to get three types of<br />

certificates: a personal certificate for S/MIME, a code-signing certificate for signing<br />

your software so that users can verify it came from you, and a certificate for securing<br />

your web site for applications such as e-commerce. Figure 10-4 illustrates the process<br />

of obtaining a certificate from a CA.<br />

Figure 10-4. Obtaining a certificate from a CA<br />

Personal certificates<br />

S/MIME email relies on personal certificates (as opposed to certificates granted to an<br />

organization), which VeriSign calls a Class 1 Digital ID. It is the easiest kind of certificate<br />

to obtain and is available for a modest price, but it is limited to use for securing<br />

your email only. You can get a Class 1 Digital ID that works with Netscape Messenger<br />

or one intended to work with Microsoft Outlook Express. If you use a different application<br />

to read and write your email, you should consult with that application’s vendor<br />

to find out whether it interoperates with either of these certificate types.<br />

The first step in obtaining a personal certificate is to visit VeriSign’s web site at http://<br />

www.verisign.com and follow the links from the main page to Secure Messaging,<br />

which is listed under Retail Services on the Products/Services page, to the Digital ID<br />

enrollment form. We won’t outline all of the links here; not only are they subject to<br />

change, but there is a wealth of information on the site that is well worth reading,<br />

including information on how to make use of the certificate once it has been issued.<br />

Once you have filled out and submitted the enrollment form, VeriSign will send an<br />

514 | Chapter 10: Public Key Infrastructure<br />

Certificate Signing Request (CSR)<br />

Certification<br />

Authority Signed certificate<br />

Client Server<br />

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition<br />

Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

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