E-COMMERCE: Digital Identification

E-Commerce
Why does e-commerce
  need encryption?
What kind of encryption
  does e-commerce use?
Digital Signature
Digital Certificate
Netscape's SSL
Secure Electronic
  Transaction

Digital Copyright
   Protection
Glossary

Use of Data Encryption in Today's Context: E-Commerce

Digital Identification

To be sure that genuine clients are dealing with genuine merchants, a scheme to identify oneself in the digital world must exist. This is the role played by digital signature and digital authentication.
What is a digital signature?

Digital signatures are implemented through public-key encryption and are used to verify the origin and contents of a message.
A digital signature is prepared by first passing the message through a cryptographic function to calculate the message digest. The digest is then encrypted with the private key to produce a signature which is then added to the original message.
The recipient of the digital signature can be sure that the message genuinely came from the sender. And, because the slightest change in the message gets reflected multi-fold in the message digest in a very obvious manner, the recipient can be sure that the message was not changed after the message digest was generated.
What is a digital certificate?

Digital certificates provide the basis for secure electronic transactions as they enable all participants in a transaction to quickly and easily verify the identity of the other participants.
They are digitally signed and issued by a Certificate Authority which verifies that the public key attached to the certificate belongs to the party stated.

Copyright ©1999 ThinkQuest Team 27158 — Developed for ThinkQuest 1999

E-Commerce Why does e-commerce need encryption? What kind of encryption does e-commerce use? Digital Signature Digital Certificate Netscape's SSL Secure Electronic Transaction Digital Copyright Protection Glossary			Use of Data Encryption in Today's Context: E-Commerce Digital Identification To be sure that genuine clients are dealing with genuine merchants, a scheme to identify oneself in the digital world must exist. This is the role played by digital signature and digital authentication. What is a digital signature? Digital signatures are implemented through public-key encryption and are used to verify the origin and contents of a message. A digital signature is prepared by first passing the message through a cryptographic function to calculate the message digest. The digest is then encrypted with the private key to produce a signature which is then added to the original message. The recipient of the digital signature can be sure that the message genuinely came from the sender. And, because the slightest change in the message gets reflected multi-fold in the message digest in a very obvious manner, the recipient can be sure that the message was not changed after the message digest was generated. What is a digital certificate? Digital certificates provide the basis for secure electronic transactions as they enable all participants in a transaction to quickly and easily verify the identity of the other participants. They are digitally signed and issued by a Certificate Authority which verifies that the public key attached to the certificate belongs to the party stated.
			Copyright ©1999 ThinkQuest Team 27158 — Developed for ThinkQuest 1999