Hi I am a little new to security, but in researching digital certificates it seems the only format people describe is X.509.
Are there other formats? If so what are they and where can I find information on them?
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Sign up to join this communityHi I am a little new to security, but in researching digital certificates it seems the only format people describe is X.509.
Are there other formats? If so what are they and where can I find information on them?
Quote from http://www.digi-sign.com/node/10922
All Types of Digital Certificates Are Also a X509 Certificate
A X509 certificate *refers to all types of digital certificates, regardless of how they are utilized, and implies the current standardization used to design and create digital certificates. This standardization recognizes that the information, data and other embedded objects within a digital certificate are all placed exactly in the same location and in the same order. As a result, these standards make it possible for digital certificates of all kinds to be shared between individuals and organizations, as well as allow for applications to use a single digital certificate, in place of multiple certificates. For instance, word processing, spreadsheets, data bases, and presentation software suites can be designed to use a single digital certificate in order to authenticate the user and verify they have a valid copy of the software installed on their computer. Without the X509 standards, users would have to have one digital certificate for each application, regardless of whether it was bundled as a suite or purchased separately.
That's the reason why you keep seeing X509 everywhere.
Although x.509 is the standard for PKIs with CAs, different certificate formats have been defined for the other 2 major PKI approaches:
RFC4212 "Alternative Certificate Formats for the Public-Key Infrastructure Using X.509 (PKIX) Certificate Management Protocols" may also be of interest.
Card verifiable certificates (CVC) are rather important for smart card technologies. In general X509 certificates have a rather complex structure and may take a lot of room compared to the RAM and EEPROM/flash memory that is available in a smart card chip.
It is certainly possible to parse an X509 certificate in a processor card (it's a generic processor, so it's a Turing machine, so given enough memory...), but a flatter, more dense structure with fewer optional features and a fixed order of elements makes more sense.