Certificate Information and Decisions

This section describes how to use various windows displayed at different times by Certificate Manager. The additional information given here appears when you click the Help button in one of those windows.

In this section:

Certificate Details

Enrollment Information

Certificate Renewal

User Identification Request

New Certificate Authority

Web Site Certificates

 

Certificate Details

The Certificate Details window displays information about a certificate you selected in one of the Certificate Manager tabs.

The top panel of the Certificate Details window displays the certificate chain, with the certificate you originally selected at the bottom. A certificate chain is a hierarchical series of certificates signed by successive certificate authorities. A CA certificate identifies a certificate authority (CA) and is used to sign certificates issued by that authority. A CA certificate can in turn be signed by the CA certificate of a parent CA and so on up to a root CA.

To examine information for any certificate in the certificate chain, click the its name in the top panel. The corresponding information is displayed in the bottom panel. The bottom panel shows the following information about the selected certificate:

The Details tab of the Certifiate Details window displays the complete contents of the selected certificate. This information is normally of interest to IS professionals only.

Certificate Manager displays basic ANSI types in human-readable form wherever possible. For fields whose contents it cannot interpret, Certificate Manager simply displays the actual values contained in the certificate.

 

Choose Security Device

A security device (sometimes called a token) is a hardware or software device that provides cryptographic services such as encryption and decryption and stores certificates and keys. The Choose Security Device window appears when Certificate Manager needs help deciding which security device to use when importing a certificate or performing a cryptographic operation, such as generating keys for a new certificate. This window allows you to select one of two or more security devices that Certificate Manager has detected on your machine.

A smart card is one example of a security device. For example, if a smart card reader connected to your computer has a smart card inserted in it, the name of the smart card will show up in the drop-down menu. In this case, you must choose the name of the smart card from the menu to let Certificate Manager know that you want to use it.

The Certificate Manager also supplies its own default, built-in security device, which can always be used no matter what additional devices are or aren't available.

 

Enrollment Information

The following windows may appear while you are attempting to obtain a certificate from a certificate authority (a process sometimes called certificate enrollment):

 

Encryption Key Copy

Certificate authorities (CAs) that issue separate signing and encryption email certificates typically make backup copies of your private encryption key during the certificate enrollment process. Separate signing and encryption certificates require client software that supports dual key pairs for use in signing and encrypting email.

It's important to understand that a CA that has archived a backup copy of your encryption key has the potential capability of decrypting any messages encrypted with your public key. If you trust your CA with this capability, click OK. After your CA makes a backup copy of the encryption key, you will be able to use that key to access your encrypted mail even if you lose your password or lose your own copy of the key. If no backup copy of your encryption key exists and you lose your password or the key, you will have no way of reading any of your encrypted email messages.

If you don't trust the CA that is requesting the backup copy, don't request a certificate from it. Click Cancel to stop both the backup procedure and the request for a certificate.

If you are not sure whether to trust the CA that is requesting the backup copy, talk to your system administrator.

 

Certificate Backup

When you receive a certificate, make a backup copy of the certificate and its private key, then store the copy in a safe place. For example, you can put the copy on a floppy disk and store it with other valuable items under lock and key. That way, even if you have hard disk or file corruption problems, you can easily restore the certificate.

It can be inconvenient, at best, and in some situations catastrophic to lose your certificate and its associated private key, depending on what you use it for. For example:

Like any other valuable data, certificates should be backed up to avoid future trouble and expense. Do it now so you don't forget.

 

Certificate Renewal

Like a credit card, a driver's license, and many other forms of identification, a certificate is valid for a specified period of time. When a certificate expires, you need to get a new one—unless you have decided that you don't need that certificate anymore.

Certifocate Manager displays the Certificate Renewal window when it detects that one of your certificates is about to expire. Information about the certificate is displayed at the top of the window. The information provided includes the name of the CA that issued the certificate (labeled "Issued Under").

The Certificate Renewal window allows you to make one of two decisions:

 

User Identification Request

Some web sites require that you identify yourself with a certificate rather than a name and password, because certificates provide a more reliable form of identification. This method of identifying yourself over the Internet is sometimes called client authentication.

However, Certificate Manager may have more than one certificate on file that can be used for the purposes of identifying yourself to a web site. In this case, Certificate Manager presents the User Identification Request window, which allows you to select the appropriate certificate for the web site you want to visit.

Web sites can also use certificates to identify themselves. The certificate presented by the web site you want to visit is displayed in the top part of this window. The information provided includes the name of the CA that issued the certificate (labeled "Issued Under").

The certificates you have available for the purposes of identifying yourself to a web site are listed in the drop-down menu in the bottom part of the window. Choose the certificate that seems most likely to be recognized by the web site you want to visit.

 

No_Acceptable_Identification

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New Certificate Authority

The certificates the Certificate Manager has on file, whether stored on your computer or on an external security device such as a smart card, include certificates that identify a certificate authorities (CAs). To be able to recognize any other certificates it has on file, Certificate Manager must have certificates for the CAs that issued or authorized issuance of those certificates. When you decide to trust a CA, Certificate Manager files that CA's certificate and can then recognize the kinds of certificates you trust that CA to issue.

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Certificate Manager displays two windows that allow you to specify that you trust a new CA:

 

Web Site Certificates

One of the following windows may appear when you attempt to go to a web site that supports authentication and encryption:

 

New Web Site Certificate

Many web sites use certificates to identify themselves when you visit the site. If Certificate Manager doesn't recognize the certificate authority (CA) that issued a web site's certificate, it displays the following windows:

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Expired Web Site Certificate

Like a credit card, a driver's license, and many other forms of identification, a certificate is valid for a specified period of time. When a certificate expires, the owner of the certificate needs to get a new one.

Certificate Manager displays the Expired Web Site Certificate window when you attempt to visit a web site whose certificate has expired. As the window explains, the first thing you should do is make sure the time and date displayed by your computer is correct. If your computer's clock is set to a date that is after the expiration date, Certificate Manager treats the web site's certificate as expired.

You can examine information about the certificate, including its validity period, by clicking the View button.

The decision whether to trust the site anyway depends on what you intend to do at the site and what else you know about it. Most commercial sites will make sure that they replace their certificates before they expire.

If you believe the certificate's expiration is an inadvertent error, you may want to accept the certificate anyway for this session and let the webmaster for the site know about the problem.

If you suspect that there may be a more significant problem, either accept the certificate and be cautious about any actions you take while you are visiting the site, or do not accept the certificate (in which case the browser will not connect you to the site).

 

Web Site Certificate Not Yet Valid

Like a credit card, a driver's license, and many other forms of identification, a certificate is valid for a specified period of time.

Certificate Manager displays the Web Site Certificate Not Yet Valid window when you attempt to visit a web site whose certificate's validity period has not yet started. The first thing you should do is make sure the time and date displayed by your own computer is correct. If your computer's clock is set to the wrong date, Certificate Manager may treat the web site's certificate as not yet valid even if this is not the case.

You can examine information about the certificate, including its validity period, by clicking the View button.

The decision whether to trust the site anyway depends on what you intend to do at the site and what else you know about it. Most commercial sites will make sure that the validity period for their certificates has begun before beginning to use them.

If you believe the certificate's expiration is an inadvertent error, you may want to accept the certificate anyway for this session and let the webmaster for the site know about the problem.

If you suspect that there may be a more significant problem, either accept the certificate and be cautious about any actions you take while you are visiting the site, or do not accept the certificate (in which case Certificate Manager will not connect you to the site).

 

Unexpected Certificate Name

A web site certificate specifies the name of the web site in the form of the site's host name. For example, the host name for Netscape Netcenter is home.netscape.com. If the host name in a web site's certificate doesn't match the actual host name of the web site, it may be a sign that someone is attempting to intercept your communication with the web site.

The decision whether to trust the site anyway depends on what you intend to do at the site and what else you know about it. Most commercial sites will make sure that the host name for a web site certificate matches the web site's actual host name.

If you decide to accept the certificate anyway for this session, you should be cautious about what you do on the web site, and you should treat any information you find there as potentially suspect.


5/10/2001

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