23.3 Public Key Infrastructure

PKI is a technology whose day has been coming for some time. The basic concept of PKI is to provide secure authentication, nonrepudiation, and encryption for communication between users and network devices. PKI supports technologies such as digital certificates, encryption, and the IP Security Protocol (IPSEC).

Its downsides are its complexity and its reliance on other mechanisms, such as a certificate authority (CA), for its operation. There has been significant improvement in this area over the last few years, but the process of designing and implementing a working PKI infrastructure is still complex. Numerous issues, such as implementing a single root CA and accepting certificates signed by other CAs, as well as the overall cost, have slowed the deployment of PKI.