{"id":2069,"date":"2011-08-23T10:50:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T10:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/digital-certificate\/"},"modified":"2017-02-01T14:36:19","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T14:36:19","slug":"digital-certificate","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate","title":{"rendered":"Digital Certificate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_digital_certificate_mean\">What Does Digital Certificate Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A digital certificate authenticates the Web credentials of the sender and lets the recipient of an encrypted message know that the data is from a trusted source (or a sender who claims to be one). A digital certificate is issued by a certification authority (CA).\n<\/p>\n<p>Digital certificates are used with self-signatures and message encryption.\n<\/p>\n<p>Digital certificates are also known as public key certificates or identity certificates.\n<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_digital_certificate\">Techopedia Explains Digital Certificate<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A person (sender), who is sending an encrypted message may obtain a digital certificate from a CA to ensure authenticity. The CA issues the digital certificate with the applicant&#8217;s public key, along with other information such as holder name, serial number, date of expiration and a digital CA signature. It also issues its own public key in the public domain via the Web.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen a Web message is transmitted, a digital certificate serves as an encrypted attachment containing the public key and other relevant identifying data. When the recipient receives the message, the digital certificate is decoded using the CA\u2019s public key. Using various information residing in the digital certificate, the recipient can send an encrypted reply back to the sender.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDigital certificates verify website authenticity and legitimacy. A browser may display an unsafe digital certificate alert but still permit user entry. This warning signals that the website is a threat and security risk.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe most common digital certificate standard is X.509.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Digital Certificate Mean? A digital certificate authenticates the Web credentials of the sender and lets the recipient of an encrypted message know that the data is from a trusted source (or a sender who claims to be one). A digital certificate is issued by a certification authority (CA). Digital certificates are used with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[231,218,233,245],"class_list":["post-2069","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-it-business-alignment","definitioncat-cybersecurity","definitioncat-encryption","definitioncat-internet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Digital Certificate? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Digital Certificate and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Digital Certificate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Digital Certificate and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-01T14:36:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Digital Certificate\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-23T10:50:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-01T14:36:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate\"},\"wordCount\":241,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1775\/digital-certificate\",\"name\":\"What is a Digital Certificate? 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