Glossary
Consult the other pages of the FAQ for complementary information about certificates.
Authentication
IT process of checking an entity ID (person, computer...) in order to this entity access to resources (systems, network, apps...). Authentication validates the entity authenticity.
Certification authority
Defines and applies a certification policy. Webusers' trust rely on it.
Certificate
A digital certificate is a digital ID used to identify a user or an equipment. X509 standard defines a digital certificate format.
CRL
Certificate revocation list.
Integrity
guarantees the information has not been altered nor modified during the exchange (a transfer on a network for example).
Jar (Java ARchive)
a file format used to bundle all components required by a Java applet.
Java
an object-oriented high-level programming language
Keystore
A KeyStore is a password-protected repository of security certificates, either authorization certificates or public key certificates and of keys.
PDF
Short for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended.
PKCS12
Defines an archive file used to bundle a private key with its X.509 certificate or to bundle all the members of a chain of trust. The filename extension for PKCS #12 files is .p12 or .pfx.
Signature significance
Does the signature insure part or the totality of the document?
Proxy
Inside a local network, a proxy is a server that relays requests to Internet and gathers responses in a cache (it keeps tracks of the pages that have been consulted to ease later requests).
Digital Signature
authenticates the author of a digital document and guarantees its integrity. It is the digital counterpart of a hand signature on a paper document.
Some of those definitions have been found on wikipedia.org.
