Practical Implications of Public Key Infrastructure for Identity Professionals

Public Key Infrastructure, or “PKI,” is a technology that enables authentication via asymmetric cryptography. It is widely deployed for some vital security use cases on the Internet, especially for authentication of servers via Transport Layer Security (TLS). Despite its wide use for some scenarios, there are significant challenges in deploying PKI for more widespread use among smaller organizations or consumers. Identity Professionals who need to deploy a PKI or have inherited a deployed PKI from someone else have several important considerations, including lifecycle management of keys and certificates, choosing the appropriate way to encode user identifiers and understanding cross-PKI trust.