Uses for Digital Certificates

Digital certificates aren’t just for breakfast anymore. They can be used for clients who want to authenticate a web server to verify they are connected to the correct server using HTTP Secure (HTTPS), Transport Layer Security (TLS), or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). For the average user who does not have to write these protocols, but simply benefits from using them, they are all effectively the same, which is HTTP combined with TLS/SSL for the security benefits. This means that digital certificates can be used when you do online banking from your PC to the bank’s website. It also means that if you use SSL technology for your remote-access VPNs you can also use digital certificates for authenticating the peers (at each end) of the VPN.

You can also use digital certificates with the protocol family of IPsec, which can also use digital certificates for the authentication portion.

Digital certificates can also be used with protocols such as 802.1X, which involves authentication at the edge of the network before allowing the user’s packets and frames to progress through the network. An example is a wireless network, controlling access and requiring authentication, using digital certificates for the PCs/users, before allowing them in on the network.