ZyXEL Communications MAX-306, User Manual, Page: 183 / 405

User’s Guide
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The Certificates Screens
15.1 Overview
Use the TOOLS > Certificates screens to manage public key certificates on the
WiMAX Device.
The WiMAX Device can use public key certificates (also sometimes 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.
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 his site to be
issued to all visiting web browsers to let them know that the site is legitimate.
15.1.1 What You Can Do in This Chapter
• The My Certificates screen ( Section 15.2 on page 184 ) lets you generate and
export self-signed certificates or certification requests and import the WiMAX
Device’s CA-signed certificates.
• The Trusted CAs screen ( Section 15.3 on page 193 ) lets you display a
summary list of certificates of the certification authorities that you have set the
WiMAX Device to accept as trusted.
15.1.2 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this chapter.
Certificate Authorities
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. You can use the