Understanding PKI: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations, Second Edition

Chapter 17. Introduction

In Part II of this book, we take a brief look at the standards and nonstandards activities most relevant to PKI technology. This part is deliberately small because we recognize that such activities are volatile and fluid at best, defying prediction and challenging the wisdom of static preservation in a book. Nevertheless, it is of value to highlight the major groups working in this area, to provide some background in terms of their history and purpose, and to give pointers to the specifications that are stable enough to warrant implementation efforts.

Chapter 18, Major Standards Activities, presents some of the most prominent activities taking place within formal standards bodies. As you will notice, a good number of these ...