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Figure 20 - Public Key Certificates

Here we can see that everyone’s public key certificate is, well – um, public. The important thing to

note is that the certificate authority also has a public key certificate that identifies itself. This certificate

is signed with its own private key and is a “self-signed” certificate. As you may remember, Jetdirect

also creates a self-signed certificate. What is the difference between a certificate authority’s self-

signed certificate and Jetdirect’s self-signed certificate? Good Question! First let’s describe what a

self-signed certificate actually is. Let’s assume Jack realizes that he doesn’t have a CA but he needs a

certificate. Here is what he does