Unauthorized access, unsigned applications (malware) and unsecured email. What can help prevent these top 3 cyberthreats impacting organizations today? Public key infrastructure (PKI). PKI enables a trusted environment by authenticating and ensuring the integrity of data and users. The word “authentication” is of Greek origin, authentikos, meaning “real, genuine.” Authentication is the process of proving something to be true, genuine or valid.
At the highest level, PKI is a set of software and hardware technologies designed to manage the creation, storage, transmission and authentication of digital certificates and their associated encryption keys. A real-world analogy to a digital certificate is a driver’s license. In the digital realm, a digital certificate serves as a way for people or devices to prove who or what they are, because a part of the PKI known as a certificate authority (CA) has issued and “signed” the certificate, vouching for the person/device.