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VSG1435-B101 Series User’s Guide
237
CHAPTER 20
Certificates
20.1 Overview
The ZyXEL Device can use certificates (also called digital IDs) to authenticate
users. Certificates are based on public-private key pairs. A certificate contains the
certificate owner’s identity and public key. Certificates provide a way to exchange
public keys for use in authentication.
20.1.1 What You Can Do in this Chapter
•The Local Certificates screen lets you generate certification requests and
import the ZyXEL Device's CA-signed certificates (Section 20.4 on page 245).
•The Trusted CA screen lets you save the certificates of trusted CAs to the
ZyXEL Device (Section 20.4 on page 245).
20.2 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this chapter.
Certification Authority
A Certification Authority (CA) issues certificates and guarantees the identity of
each certificate owner. There are commercial certification authorities like
CyberTrust or VeriSign and government certification authorities. The certification
authority uses its private key to sign certificates. Anyone can then use the
certification authority's public key to verify the certificates. You can use the ZyXEL
Device to generate certification requests that contain identifying information and
public keys and then send the certification requests to a certification authority.