Readings: Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

name the three main components which make up PKI.

Certificate Authority,Registration Authority,Certificate Repository

How would you explain, to a non-technical friend, the role PKI plays in protecting traffic between your browser and a web server.

Think of PKI as a secure handshake between your browser and a web server. When you visit a website, your browser initiates the handshake by asking for the web server's digital certificate. It's like asking for identification to ensure you're talking to the right person. Once the certificate is verified, your browser and the web server exchange encryption keys, which are like secret codes that only they understand. These keys enable them to encrypt and decrypt the information they send to each other. This handshake process creates a secure tunnel for your data to travel through, making it difficult for anyone else to intercept or tamper with the information while it's in transit.

What is the main weakness of the PKI architecture?

The main weakness of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) architecture lies in the trust model and the reliance on Certificate Authorities (CAs)