User’s Guide
311
APPENDIX E
Importing Certificates
This appendix shows you how to import public key certificates into your web
browser.
Public key certificates are used by web browsers to ensure that a secure web site
is legitimate. When a certificate authority such as VeriSign, Comodo, or Network
Solutions, to name a few, receives a certificate request from a website operator,
they confirm that the web domain and contact information in the request match
those on public record with a domain name registrar. If they match, then the
certificate is issued to the website operator, who then places it on the site to be
issued to all visiting web browsers to let them know that the site is legitimate.
Many ZyXEL products, such as the NSA-2401, issue their own public key
certificates. These can be used by web browsers on a LAN or WAN to verify that
they are in fact connecting to the legitimate device and not one masquerading as
it. However, because the certificates were not issued by one of the several
organizations officially recognized by the most common web browsers, you will
need to import the ZyXEL-created certificate into your web browser and flag that
certificate as a trusted authority.
Note: You can see if you are browsing on a secure website if the URL in your web
browser’s address bar begins with https:// or there is a sealed padlock
icon ( ) somewhere in the main browser window (not all browsers show the
padlock in the same location.)
In this appendix, you can import a public key certificate for:
• Internet Explorer on page 312
•Firefox on page 322
•Opera on page 328
• Konqueror on page 336