HP Printers - Certificate-based authentication for data security (whitepaper)

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Technical white paper

Certificate-based authentication for data security

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 2

Analogy: A simple checking account......................................................................................... 2

Verifying a digital certificate ....................................................................................................... 2

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Important points to remember ................................................................................................. 8

More Information ......................................................................................................................... 8

Summary of content (8 pages)

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Technical white paper Certificate-based authentication for data security Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 2 Analogy: A simple checking account......................................................................................... 2 Verifying a digital certificate....................................................................................................... 2 Summary ..
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Introduction This document uses a simple analogy to help you understand how certificates are used for identity and authentication. Analogies are good at showing how a new idea is very similar to an idea that people are already very familiar with. This analogy compares digital certificates to the old-fashioned paper certificates. The analogy works so well that a lot of questions about digital certificates can be answered by thinking of how things work with paper certificates.
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anybody who asks. Renown or big-name certificate vendors (such as Verisign, DigiCert, Symantec, GeoTrust, etc.) put their CA certificates on their public web sites for everybody to download. They also make sure to put them into web browsers so that certificates on popular web sites can be automatically checked without the user even knowing. Many businesses are set up to sign their own certificates. They have a CA certificate too and will also share it with all their employees.
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6. Open the file (using the Windows certificate viewer: Crypto Shell Extensions), and then click on the “Install Certificate…” button.
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7. Select “Current User” option, and then click “Next”. 8. Select “Place all certificates in the following store” option. 9. Click on the “Browse…” button, select “Trusted Root Certification Authorities” from the certificates listed on the Certificate Store, and then click “OK”.
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10. Click on the “Next” button. 11. Review the confirmation screen, and then click “Finish”. NOTE: If you see the following Security Warning pop-up message, click “Yes” to continue. 12. When the message displays, “The import was successful.”, click “OK”. Your browser now has access to your printer’s “signature card” and will trust the ID certificate that it sends. NOTE: There might still be other issues that your browser flags, but the trust issue will be eliminated.
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What do you do if you are not using the default self-signed certificate for ID? You go to whoever signed your printers ID certificate and ask them for a CA certificate. After you have the CA certificate the rest of the steps are identical. Checking the identity of the device presenting the certificate The second step in verifying a certificate is to verify that the right person or device is presenting it. This is a bit more complicated.
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Summary Obviously, this analogy leaves out a lot of detail. But, the essentials are all there. The biggest difference between digital and paper certificates is in how quickly they can be verified. Digital certificates are verified literally billions of times per day, every day. Paper certificates take so much time and effort to verify that they only get examined when there’s a problem. The bank only verifies the signature on a check when you complain about a possible forgery.