Q. In India, the term “Public Key Infrastructure” is used in the context of

  • Digital security infrastructure
  • Food security infrastructure
  • Health care and education infrastructure
  • Telecommunication and transportation infrastructure

Answer: (a) Digital security infrastructure

Public Key Infrastructure
  • The Public Key Infrastructure is a technology for authenticating users and devices in the digital world. It is the framework of encryption and cybersecurity that protects communications between the server and the client. It is based on digital certificates that verify the identity of the machines and/or users that ultimately proves the integrity of the transaction through encryption and decryption.
  • Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) can protect the identities involved as well as the private information used in situations where digital security is necessary, such as smart card logins, SSL signatures, encrypted documents, and more.
  • There are three key components:- digital certificates, certificate authority, and registration authority.
    • Digital Certificates– It is a form of electronic identification for websites and organizations. Secured connections between two communicating machines are made available through PKI because the identities of the two parties can be verified by way of certificates.
    • Certificate Authority– It is used to authenticate the digital identities of the users, which can range from individuals to computer systems to servers. It can prevent falsified entities and manage the life cycle of any given number of digital certificates within the system.
    • Registration Authority- It is authorized by the Certificate Authority to provide digital certificates to users on a case-by-case basis. All of the certificates that are requested received, and revoked by both the Certificate Authority and the Registration Authority are stored in an encrypted certificate database.
  • The PKI is best utilized for situations that require digital security. It performs encryption directly through the keys that it generates and it works by using two different cryptographic keys: a public key and a private key.
  • PKI secures sensitive electronic information by using a two-key encryption system as it is passed back and forth between two parties. It then provides each party with a key to encrypt and decrypt the digital data.