Understanding Public-Key Infrastructure: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations

Chapter 15. Introduction

Part II of this book takes a brief look at the standards and non-standards activities most relevant to PKI technology. This part is deliberately small due to the recognition 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 16, "Major Standards Activities," discusses some of the most prominent activities taking place within formal standards bodies. As you will notice, a good number of ...