An external Certificate Authority (CA) provides a way of obtaining identity certificates that are trusted by 3rd parties. These CA providers typically perform the following functions:
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Validates the certificate requestor's identity and ownership of the domain
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Issues certificates
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Maintains certificate status information
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Updates Certificate Revocation Lists
Most commercial CAs are part of one or more industry organisations such as:
Both have online resources that can assist in selecting and using a CA. In addition there are other web resources from the CA providers themselves.
