Digital certificate
Türkçe: Dijital sertifika
An electronic document that binds a public key to an identity (for example a domain name) and is signed by a trusted authority.
// EXPLANATION
When connecting to a site the browser checks the certificate's signature chain, validity period and domain match. If verification fails, the user is warned; this is the main defence against man-in-the-middle attacks.
// ALSO KNOWN AS
certificatedigital certificateSSL certificatecertificates
// RELATED TERMS
Certificate authority (CA)An organisation trusted by browsers and operating systems that verifies and digitally signs certificates.
SSL/TLSThe family of protocols that encrypts communication over the internet and verifies the identity of the other side; the basis of the browser padlock.
Digital signatureA method of proving who a message came from and that it was not altered, using a value produced with a private key and verified with a public key.
RSAAn asymmetric encryption algorithm based on the difficulty of factoring large numbers, used for key exchange and digital signatures.
