Self-signed or CA certificates

You and your partners should decide whether to use self-signed certificates or certificates from a third-party certificate authority. Consider the following when deciding:

• Self-signed certificates are easily created. The primary disadvantage is lack of verification by a trusted third party.
• The primary advantage of CA certificates is that the identity of the certificate holder is verified by a trusted third party. Disadvantages include the extra cost and administrative effort.
• A CA provides a centralized source for posting and obtaining information about certificates, including information about revoked certificates.

Related topics

• PKI description
• Why use encryption and digital signatures
• Activator encryption method
• Encryption and signing summary
• Ensure data integrity and trust
• Certificate basics
• SSL authentication
• Distribute certificates to partners
• When to get certificates
• Manage expiring certificates
• Trusted roots
• Auto import intermediate and root certificates
• FIPS compliance