Certification Practice Statement
A Certification Practice Statement (CPS) is a document from a certificate authority or a member of a web of trust which describes their practice for issuing and managing public key certificates.[1]
Some elements of a CPS include documenting practices of:
- issuance
- publication
- archiving
- revocation
- renewal
By detailing the practice of issuance, revocation and renewal, a CPS aids entities in judging the relative reliability of a given certificate authority.[2]
Certificate authorities[]
In a certificate authority, the CPS should derive from the organization's certificate policy and may be referenced in issued certificates.[3]
Web of trust[]
Because individuals act as certifiers in a web of trust, individual CPS documents are sometimes used. For example, in a PGP WoT, the CPS might state that the certifying entity checked two forms of legal government ID before signing the person's public key.
Digital signatures[]
When verifying digital signatures, it's necessary to review the CPS so as to determine the meaning of the issuance of the certificate by the certifying entity.[4]
References[]
- ^ http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3647#page-15
- ^ American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines 1996, ISBN 1-57073-250-7 (section 1.8.1)
- ^ https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc780454(v=ws.10).aspx
- ^ American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines 1996, ISBN 1-57073-250-7
External links[]
- Key management
- Public-key cryptography