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| − | | + | =[[SSL Certificate Chain]]= |
| − | =SSL Certificate Chain= | |
| − | There are two types of certificate authorities (CAs): root CAs and intermediate CAs. In order for an SSL certificate to be trusted, that certificate must have been issued by a CA that is included in the trusted store of the device that is connecting.
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| − | If the certificate was not issued by a trusted CA, the connecting device (eg. a web browser) will then check to see if the certificate of the issuing CA was issued by a trusted CA, and so on until either a trusted CA is found (at which point a trusted, secure connection will be established) or no trusted CA can be found (at which point the device will usually display an error).
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| − | The list of SSL certificates, from the root certificate to the end-user certificate, represents the SSL certificate chain.
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| − | https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/67d491036d6e40015f275fc78daa1de4b9ab6d71/b2364/files/dnsimple-ssl-chain-robowhois.png
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| − | ==Example of an SSL Certificate chain==
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| − | Here’s a practical example. Let’s suppose that you purchase a certificate from the Awesome Authority for the domain example.awesome.
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| − | Awesome Authority is not a root certificate authority. In other words, its certificate is not directly embedded in your web browser and therefore it can’t be explicitly trusted.
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| − | * Awesome Authority utilizes a certificate issued by Intermediate Awesome CA Alpha.
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| − | * Intermediate Awesome CA Alpha utilizes a certificate issued by Intermediate Awesome CA Beta.
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| − | * Intermediate Awesome CA Beta utilizes a certificate issued by Intermediate Awesome CA Gamma.
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| − | * Intermediate Awesome CA Gamma utilizes a certificate issued by The King of Awesomeness.
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| − | * The King of Awesomeness is a Root CA. Its certificate is directly embedded in your web browser, therefore it can be explicitly trusted.
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| − | In our example, the SSL certificate chain is represented by 6 certificates:
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| − | * End-user Certificate - Issued to: example.com; Issued By: Awesome Authority
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| − | * Intermediate Certificate 1 - Issued to: Awesome Authority; Issued By: Intermediate Awesome CA Alpha
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| − | * Intermediate Certificate 2 - Issued to: Intermediate Awesome CA Alpha; Issued By: Intermediate Awesome CA Beta
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| − | * Intermediate Certificate 3 - Issued to: Intermediate Awesome CA Beta; Issued By: Intermediate Awesome CA Gamma
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| − | * Intermediate Certificate 4 - Issued to: Intermediate Awesome CA Gamma; Issued By: The King of Awesomeness
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| − | * Root certificate - Issued by and to: The King of Awesomeness
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