7. Conclusion

The electronic certification of public keys and associated data for individuals and systems has become an increasingly essential technique in IT, particularly with the expansion of the Internet and the dematerialization of documents. Any IT server wishing to communicate securely with users now uses the SSL/TLS protocol, which requires an electronic certificate.

It is therefore important for companies and organizations to rely on key management infrastructures (KMIs), which are managed either directly or by electronic certification service providers (ECSPs). For SMEs, managing their own PKI is out of their reach because of the cost involved, so it's best to use an ECSP.

PSCEs and publishers of PKI software packages have been around for a long time. Standardization around the IETF PKIX standard should facilitate interoperability between the...