ZyXEL Communications XMG3512-B10A - Certificates; Chapter 20 Certificates; Overview; What You Can Do in this Chapter

XMG3512-B10A User’s Guide
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CHAPTER 20
Certificates
20.1 Overview
The XMG can use certificates (also called digital IDs) to authenticate users. Certificates are based on
public-private key pairs. A certificate contains the certificate owner’s identity and public key.
Certificates provide a way to exchange public keys for use in authentication.
20.1.1 What You Can Do in this Chapter
• Use the Local Certificates screen to generate certification requests and import the XMG's CA-signed
certificates (Section 20.4 on page 201).
• Use the Trusted CA screen to save the certificates of trusted CAs to the XMG (Section 20.4 on page
201).
20.2 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this chapter.
Certification Authority
A Certification Authority (CA) issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each certificate owner.
There are commercial certification authorities like CyberTrust or VeriSign and government certification
authorities. The certification authority uses its private key to sign certificates. Anyone can then use the
certification authority's public key to verify the certificates. You can use the XMG to generate
certification requests that contain identifying information and public keys and then send the
certification requests to a certification authority.
20.3 The Local Certificates Screen
Click Security > Certificates to open the Local Certificates screen. This is the XMG’s summary list of
certificates and certification requests.
Figure 121 Security > Certificates > Local Certificates