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Discuss X.509 digital certificate format.

Format of X.509 certificate :
The general format of a X.509 digital certificate is shown in Fig:

  1. Version:
    • It tells us the version of the certificate format. Default is version 1.
    • Version 2 if Issuer or Subject Unique Identifier is present.
    • Version 3 if one or more extensions are present.
  2. Serial Number:
    • A unique number within the Certification Authority (CA) associated with the certificate.
  3. Signature Algorithm Identifier:
    • The algorithm used to sign the certificate along with any associated parameters.
  4. Issuer Name:
    • The X.500 name of the Certification Authority (CA) that created and signed the certificate.
  5. Period of Validity:
    • The time frame during which the certificate is valid, specified by the start and end dates.
  6. Subject Name:
    • The name of the user to whom the certificate refers. It certifies the public key of the subject.
  7. Subject’s Public Key Information:
    • Includes the public key of the subject and identifies the algorithm for which this key is used, along with any associated parameters.
  8. Issuer Unique Identifier:
    • An optional field used to uniquely identify the issuing CA.
  9. Subject Unique Identifier:
    • An optional field used to uniquely identify the subject, especially if the X.500 name has been reused for different entities.
  10. Extensions:
    • Introduced in version 3, extensions are additional fields providing extra information.
  11. Signature:
    • This field covers all other fields in the certificate.
    • It contains a hash code of the other fields encrypted with the CA’s private key.
    • Includes the signature algorithm identifier.

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