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  3. What is Private PKI vs. Public PKI?
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Identity Trust

What is Private PKI
vs. Public PKI?

What is Private PKI vs. Public PKI?

Private Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) involves the use of encryption within an organizations’ internal servers and systems via an Internal Certificate Authority (CA) that issues private TLS/SSL certificates. Organizations using Private PKI must design, develop, implement, and maintain the necessary supporting systems to upkeep the Private PKI which can be a complicated, costly, and time-consuming undertaking. Private SSL certificates are issued off a private, dedicated intermediate and root certificate. Unfortunately, securing your own root and intermediate can get very expensive. Some of the costs of PKI set up include:

  • Hardware, software, and licensing
  • PKI expertise
  • Training
  • Certificate Policy (CP)/Certificate Practice Statement (CPS)
  • Auditing against Certificate Policy
  • Vulnerability testing

That’s why the DigiCert Private PKI Solution is a great option for organizations who need expert help and advice to ensure their internal systems are secure. With our expertise, we will create your root certificate and secure it at a level commensurate of public trust roots, while allowing you oversight of your intermediate, its properties, what types of certificates it can issue, and the names on those certificates.

Public PKI refers to digital certificates that are issued for public domains or web servers and can be viewed and logged publicly. These refer to public TLS/SSL certificates that can be used for websites, email, document signing, code signing and more.

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What is PKI?

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