Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Core Business Services

Cryptography in a PKI

As described in previous sections, cryptography underlies all of the core services of a PKI, as well as data security in general. This section defines and describes how cryptography supports a PKI. For basic information on cryptography and cryptographic support in OpenEdge, see Chapter 3, " Cryptography."

From the viewpoint of a PKI user, the key is generally the most visible part of cryptography. Depending on the type of key, the secrecy of keys is vitally important. The whole security enterprise depends on secret keys remaining secret to all except those who must have access to them. PKI also works because while certain keys must remain secret (or private), one type of key must be made public.

The “public key” in Public-Key Infrastructure indicates the fundamental importance of one particular type of cryptography to a PKI. However, in practice, the mechanism of a PKI typically relies on all of the following types of cryptography:

Symmetric-key cryptography
Message digests and MACs
Public key cryptography
Password-based encryption (PBE)