NISTIR 7298 Revision 1, Glossary of Key Information Security Terms

NIST IR 7298 Revision 1, Glossary of Key Information Security Terms
Certificate Management –
Certificate Management Authority –
(CMA)
Certificate Policy (CP) –
A digitally signed representation of information that 1) identifies
the authority issuing it, 2) identifies the subscriber, 3) identifies its
valid operational period (date issued / expiration date). In the
information assurance (IA) community, certificate usually implies
public key certificate and can have the following types:
cross certificate – a certificate issued from a CA that signs the
public key of another CA not within its trust hierarchy that
establishes a trust relationship between the two CAs.
encryption certificate – a certificate containing a public key that can
encrypt or decrypt electronic messages, files, documents, or data
transmissions, or establish or exchange a session key for these same
purposes. Key management sometimes refers to the process of
storing, protecting, and escrowing the private component of the key
pair associated with the encryption certificate.
identity certificate – a certificate that provides authentication of the
identity claimed. Within the National Security Systems (NSS) PKI,
identity certificates may be used only for authentication or may be
used for both authentication and digital signatures.
SOURCE: CNSSI-4009
A set of data that uniquely identifies a key pair and an owner that is
authorized to use the key pair. The certificate contains the owner’s
public key and possibly other information, and is digitally signed by
a Certification Authority (i.e., a trusted party), thereby binding the
public key to the owner.
SOURCE: FIPS 186
Process whereby certificates (as defined above) are generated, stored,
protected, transferred, loaded, used, and destroyed.
SOURCE: CNSSI-4009
A Certification Authority (CA) or a Registration Authority (RA).
SOURCE: SP 800-32
A specialized form of administrative policy tuned to electronic
transactions performed during certificate management. A Certificate
Policy addresses all aspects associated with the generation,
production, distribution, accounting, compromise recovery, and
administration of digital certificates. Indirectly, a certificate policy
can also govern the transactions conducted using a communications
system protected by a certificate-based security system. By
controlling critical certificate extensions, such policies and associated
enforcement technology can support provision of the security
services required by particular applications.
SOURCE: CNSSI-4009; SP 800-32
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