> > How do they work?? In brief, they contain an encryption key, and an ( optonal ) reference to someone elses certificate who says they verify your information. Now that person's certificate can reference someone else as well ( right? ) You get a chain effect... now something has to be at the "root" of the chain This root certificate ( or rather a collection thereof ) is pre-installed into every major web browser. So at the end, the site verifies with the browser you are using. You can look at the list of CA certs Under Netscape, click on the "security" button on any page. Under the "Certificates" Menu is a "signers" option. Clicking on that will show you all the "root" or CA ( Certificate Authority ) certificates you have installed. > > Can I generate one myself?? > > Yes, but then it is only you who says that you are you. If you get one > signed by a cerificate authority, it is them who are saying that you are > you... If you are doing this as an internal project thing ( for example, an intranet accross multiple offices where you have control of the browsers ) you can generate your own CA certificate instead! Once the CA cert is installed on the intranet, you can issue your own certificates for use in the intranet environment. Or it allows you to go accross the internet. You can do lots of things as long as the CA certs are installed on the browser. Adam -- SLUG - Sydney Linux Users Group Mailing List - http://www.slug.org.au To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe in the text
