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A digital certificate provides an electronic authentication that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. It is issued by a certification authority (CA). It contains your name, a serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real. A digital certificate is like using your driver's license or voter ID to verify your identity.
To use a digital signature, you need to obtain a digital certificate. For that, you go to a certificate issuer, which will give you a digital certificate that says, in effect, your identification on the web. When you buy something online and digitally sign the transaction, you provide the merchant with your digital certificate. If the merchant trusts the issuer of the certificate, he uses the certificate to verify your signature.
The IT Act provides for the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) to license and regulate the working of CA. The CCA certifies the public keys of CAs using its own private key, which enables users in the cyberspace to verify that a given certificate is issued by a licensed CA. For this purpose it operates, the Root Certifying Authority of India (RCAI). There are seven licensed certifying authorities operating now in India. MTNL is one of the certifying authenticates since 2003, providing all types of digital certificates. MTNL provides three types of digital certificates.
CLASS-1 Certificate:- Class 1 Certificates are issued to Individuals with valid e-mail addresses. Class 1 Certificates are appropriate for Digital Signatures, encryption, and electronic access control for non-commercial transactions where proof of identity is not required.
CLASS-2 Certificate:- Class 2 Certificates are issued to Individuals, and Devices.
Class 2 Individual Certificates are appropriate for Digital Signatures, encryption, and electronic access control in transactions where proof of identity based on information in the Validating database is sufficient. Class 2 Device Certificates are appropriate for device authentication; message, software, and content integrity; and confidentiality encryption.
CLASS-3 Certificate:- Class 3 Certificates are issued to Individuals, Organizations, Servers, Devices, and Administrators for CAs and RAs. Class 3 Individual Certificates are appropriate for Digital Signatures, encryption, and access control in transactions requiring a high assurance about the subscriber's identity. Class 3 Server Certificates are appropriate for server authentication; message, software, and content integrity; and confidentiality encryption.
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