Definition of Digital Certificate

How do we know that someone is who they really say they are in Internet? There are several ways, but the most normal is that the certification from identity It is provided by a third party agreed between the two, and that it materializes in a

digital certificate, a file stored on the local computer or an Internet server, which allows the identity of the issuer of certain information to be verified.

The digital certificate, issued, for example, by the government of a state, it is the one that allows citizens to process their taxes on-line, in addition to carrying out other procedures.

On the server, and recognized by the browser website used by the Internet user, the digital certificate allows the Internet user to be sure of the identity on which the website or service is affirmed on-line with which you are working.

The entities dedicated to the issuance of digital certificates are known as certifying authorities,

and they are subject to the legal norms and regulations imposed by the various national authorities or economic areas (European Union, for example).

They can be both public entities (dependent on a government), and private (a private company).

In addition to facilitating ID certified by a person, entity, company or website, a digital certificate also

allows the encryption of communications, as it contains the key necessary to use an encryption algorithm

which can be both a public key and a private key.

Another of the tasks for which the digital certificate has been designed is the

document signing, which acts the same as a physical signature, identifying the person who stamps their seal on the document and verifying their identity.

There are many countries in which the electronic signature already has, in many procedures, the same validity as the signature "traditional”.

When working with a digital certificate, we must install it in the web browser with which we work, which can sometimes be accompanied by its corresponding software.

We must be careful and, above all

uninstall it once we are done if it is a public or shared computer,

Since if we leave it installed, we will be leaving open the possibility that someone uses our digital signature in an illicit way, impersonating us. And although these certificates are usually protected by mechanisms Like a PIN or a passkey, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

If we want to get our digital certificate, the best thing we can do is to find out beforehand about the certifying authorities that we can turn to. In the case of government companies, the process is usually free, in addition to the fact that the certificate will be useful to carry out administrative procedures online, something that we cannot guarantee with a certificate from other authority private.

Photos: Fotolia - Maksim Kabakou / Gstudio

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