ZyXEL Communications EX3510-B1, User Manual

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EX3510-B1 User’s Guide
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C
HAPTER
20
Certificates
20.1 Certificates 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 223 ).
• The Trusted CA screen lets you save the certificates of trusted CAs to the Zyxel Device ( Section 20.4 on
page 223 ).
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.
20.3 Local Certificates
Click Security > Certificates to open the Local Certificates screen. Use this screen to view the Zyxel
Device’s summary list of certificates, generate certification requests, and import the signed certificates.