The Certificates Screens; Overview; What You Can Do In This Chapter; What You Need To Know - ZyXEL Communications MAX-206M2 User Manual

C
H A P T E R

14.1 Overview

Use the TOOLS > Certificates screens to manage public key certificates on the WiMAX
Modem.
The WiMAX Modem can use public key certificates (also sometimes 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.
Public key certificates are used by web browsers to ensure that a secure web site is legitimate.
When a certificate authority such as VeriSign, Comodo, or Network Solutions (to name a few)
receives a certificate request from a website operator, they confirm that the web domain and
contact information in the request match those on public record with a domain name registrar.
If they match, then the certificate is issued to the website operator, who then places it on his
site to be issued to all visiting web browsers to let them know that the site is legitimate.

14.1.1 What You Can Do in This Chapter

• The My Certificates screen
signed certificates or certification requests and import the WiMAX Modem's CA-signed
certificates.
• The Trusted CAs screen
certificates of the certification authorities that you have set the WiMAX Modem to accept
as trusted.

14.1.2 What You Need to Know

The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this chapter.
Certificate Authorities
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. You can use the WiMAX Modem to generate
certification requests that contain identifying information and public keys and then send the
certification requests to a certification authority.
User's Guide

The Certificates Screens

(Section 14.2 on page
(Section 14.3 on page
14
142) lets you generate and export self-
150) lets you display a summary list of
141