Ramblings on IT and Security

Month: September 2023

PKI – Part 3: The role of hash functions in PKI

With Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), cryptographic hash functions play a pivotal, yet often understated role, operating ceaselessly to secure the integrity and authenticity of digital data as it navigates through contemporary communication networks. To appreciate fully the indispensable role they occupy in PKI, it is essential first to delineate the fundamental principles of hash functions and to understand why they are frequently analogized as the digital fingerprints within the cybersphere.

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PKI – Part 2: Choosing the key length and algorithm

As I advance into the heart of PKI in this second installment, the focal point shifts towards two important decisions that anyone involved in setting up a PKI must deal with, choosing the appropriate key length and the cryptographic algorithm. These choices are far from arbitrary, for they are the foundation of a secure and efficient PKI. The selection at this stage will determine the resilience against cyber treats for the foreseeable future.

(updated on 05-05-2025)

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