Emmanuel Konan
PKI: operating a chain of trust
Beyond certificate issuance
A public key infrastructure brings together technology, policy and operations around identities and public keys. Certification authorities issue credentials; relying parties decide which issuers and identities to trust.
The architectural questions
- Which identities and use cases are in scope?
- Where are trust anchors distributed and maintained?
- How are CA keys protected?
- Who may request, approve, renew or revoke a certificate?
- How will the service recover from compromise or unavailability?
Practical perspective
A PKI design should connect these decisions to operational ownership. Renewal, monitoring and recovery cannot be left until after certificate issuance works.
My foundational guide explains the components. The private PKI lab explores how they fit together in a learning environment, with production requirements treated separately.