PKI or public key infrastructure is the standard used with digital certificates in order to use digital signatures. Each user requiring a digital signature must be supplied with two digital certificates. One certificate contains the user’s private key and it is vital the user understands they should never share this certificate. The other certificate contains the user’s public key and is the certificate they will share and distribute to other people. Anytime the user electronically signs data it is encrypted with their private key. Others needing to authenticate the user’s signature in data they receive use the supplied certificate containing the public key.
You Can Use PKI Along with Other Kinds of Digital Certificates
PKI can also be used with other types of digital certificates besides digital signatures. For instance, you may want your employees to use a digital certificate when accessing cloud resources or connecting to the internet in order to ensure a secure connection. Digital certificates are often used for these kinds of connections and do not require the certificate to contain a digital signature. The certificate will still authenticate against your certificate authority system and establish a secure connection before data is sent or received.