Certificates; Chapter 20 Certificates; Certificates Overview; What You Can Do In This Chapter - ZyXEL Communications AX Series User Manual

20.1 Certificates Overview

The Zyxel Device 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 view and import the Zyxel Device's CA-signed (Certification
Authority) certificates
• Use the Trusted CA screen to save the certificates of trusted CAs to the Zyxel Device. You can also
export the certificates to a computer

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 Zyxel Device to generate
certification requests that contain identifying information and public keys and then send the
certification requests to a certification authority.

20.3 Local Certificates

Use this screen to view the Zyxel Device's summary list of certificates, generate certification requests,
and import signed certificates. You can import the following certificates to your Zyxel Device:
• Web Server – This certificate secures HTTP connections.
• SSH – This certificate secures remote connections.
Click Security > Certificates to open the Local Certificates screen.
(Section 20.3 on page 279).
(Section 20.4 on page
AX/DX/EX/PX Series User's Guide
279
C
H A P T E R

Certificates

283).
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