PKI
Public Key Infrastructure. The system of certificate authorities, certificates, and keys that binds public keys to identities. Underpins TLS, code signing, and machine identity.
Enterprise PKI is where machine identity actually lives, and it is usually the least inventoried part of the estate: certificates issued by a forgotten internal CA, private keys copied between hosts, and no owner for the one that expires on a Sunday. Shrinking certificate lifetimes turn that from an annual annoyance into a continuous automation requirement.
See also: X.509, certificate lifecycle, what is machine identity, PKI vendors
Related on Start with Identity
- GlossaryDPoP
Demonstrating Proof of Possession (RFC 9449). Binds an access token to a specific key held by the client, so a stolen bearer token cannot be replayed. Important
- GlossaryABAC
Attribute-Based Access Control. Access decisions are made by evaluating attributes of the subject, resource, action, and environment against policy. Flexible bu
- GlossaryAccess Certification
Periodic review of who has access to what, with managers or resource owners attesting that access is still appropriate. A regulatory requirement in many industr
- ArticleTop 6 Open-Source PKI and Certificate Management Tools
The best open-source PKI tools in 2026, from EJBCA and step-ca to Dogtag, cert-manager, OpenXPKI, and Boulder, compared on protocol support, automation, and who