Hardware Components
A software-only PKI installation (particularly for end-entity operation) is likely to be perfectly suitable for some environments. However, application software (as well as the operating system it runs on) can be vulnerable to penetration from hackers, Trojan horses, viruses, and so on. Even well-intentioned users can cause security breaches by modifying or crashing system software inadvertently.
To help protect against the risks associated with software-only implementations of PKI, selected hardware components can be employed. For example, additional security may be gained through the use of some combination of the following:
Hardware devices to perform the cryptographic operations
Smart cards, PCMCIA cards (typically referred ...
Get Understanding Public-Key Infrastructure: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
