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Sign Here: Digital Certificates Simplify University Business
2/12/2002
Unlike a non-certified document, documents that have digital certification come with an assurance that the sender is who he or she claims to be. Doing this requires pairing a set of keys, a private key and a public key, which come together to verify a person's identity. One key is used to encrypt information and the other to decrypt it. The digital signature company holds the public key and fits it to the private key when the user puts it into the system. The dance that they do is called "symmetric key infrastructure."Although digital certificate providers rely on varying levels of authentication or steps to getting a key, the process is similar regardless of the company. Users get a key after a series of verification processes are completed. For instance, a professor might respond to a questionnaire. Then she would appear at a designated time with two forms of picture identification in hand. The physical appearance combined with the personal information she has provided would authenticate her identity, at which point she would receive a key. Every time she wanted to use her key after that point, she would have to verify her identity using some sort of password or other device.
UAB will have its digital certificate program up and running by mid-2002 and hopes to complete the process within a year.
For more information, contact Clair Goldsmith at c.goldsmith@uab.edu.
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