Glossary
Certificate Authority (CA)
A certificate authority is a trusted third party that issues digital certificates confirming the identity of individuals, organisations or servers.
Full Definition
A CA verifies the applicant's identity and issues a certificate signed by its own root certificate — the 'trust anchor'. Browsers and operating systems maintain a list of trusted CAs (e.g. DigiCert, Let's Encrypt). For a qualified electronic signature under eIDAS, the certificate must be issued by an accredited CA listed in the EU's Trusted Service List (TSL).
Related terms
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