What is PKI?

PKI stands for Public Key Infrastructure. It is the foundation of modern information security. PKI is a set of practices, policies, and technologies that allow you to encrypt and sign data protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access or use. PKI is a computer security system that provides public keys and digital certificates to organizations to encrypt public data. The most common use of PKI is to securely exchange sensitive information via the internet and other public networks, such as government agencies. Compliance and regulatory requirements ask for relevant technical and organizational measures to be in place for data protection. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) secures data by encrypting it with keys made of large numbers generated from challenging mathematical problems. Everyone's key is different and allows only them access to their digital files.

Cryptography is the process of hiding or coding information so that only the person a message was intended for can read it. The art of cryptography has been used to code messages for thousands of years and continues to be used in bank cards, computer passwords, and ecommerce. In computer science, cryptography refers to secure information and communication techniques derived from mathematical concepts and a set of rule-based calculations called algorithms, to transform messages in ways that are hard to decipher.