ZyXEL NWA3550 User Manual download pdf (Page 177)

NWA3550 User’s Guide

177

CHAPTER 15

Certificates

This chapter gives background information about public-key certificates and explains how to

use them.

15.1 Certificates Overview

The ZyXEL Device can use certificates (also called digital IDs) to authenticate users.

Certificates are based on public-private key pairs. A certificate contains the certificate owner’s

identity and public key. Certificates provide a way to exchange public keys for use in

authentication.

A Certification Authority (CA) issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each

certificate owner. There are commercial certification authorities like CyberTrust or VeriSign

and government certification authorities. You can use the ZyXEL Device to generate

certification requests that contain identifying information and public keys and then send the

certification requests to a certification authority.

In public-key encryption and decryption, each host has two keys. One key is public and can be

made openly available; the other key is private and must be kept secure. Public-key encryption

in general works as follows.

1 Tim wants to send a private message to Jenny. Tim generates a public key pair. What is

encrypted with one key can only be decrypted using the other.

2 Tim keeps the private key and makes the public key openly available.

3 Tim uses his private key to encrypt the message and sends it to Jenny.

4 Jenny receives the message and uses Tim’s public key to decrypt it.

5 Additionally, Jenny uses her own private key to encrypt a message and Tim uses Jenny’s

public key to decrypt the message.

The ZyXEL Device uses certificates based on public-key cryptology to authenticate users

attempting to establish a connection, not to encrypt the data that you send after establishing a

connection. The method used to secure the data that you send through an established

connection depends on the type of connection. For example, a VPN tunnel might use the triple

DES encryption algorithm.

The certification authority uses its private key to sign certificates. Anyone can then use the

certification authority’s public key to verify the certificates.

A certification path is the hierarchy of certification authority certificates that validate a

certificate. The ZyXEL Device does not trust a certificate if any certificate on its path has

expired or been revoked.

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ZyXEL NWA3550 User Manual Page 177