Digital Certificate Fields Explained

A digital certificate digitally verifies the identify of a certificate holder.

Digital certificates are a form of digital identification issued by companies known as Certification Authorities. Certificates certify that the holder of the certificate is who they claim to be. Each field of a digital certificate is unique and contains information about the the holder.

Version Number

Digital certificates are created using the X.509 standard. Each digital certificate will list what version of the X.509 standard it conforms with in the Version field.

Serial Number

Each digital certificate is uniquely identified with a serial number, issued by the Certification Authority.

Certificate Algorithm Identifier

This field identifies the public key used by the Certification Authority to sign the digital certificate.

Validity Period

The validity period states the length of time the certificate is valid and is denoted by a start and end date.

Subject Name and Unique Identifier

The Subject name field identifies the holder of the certificate. The Subject unique identifier field contains information to identify the subject.

Certification Authority's Digital Signature

This field contains the digital signature for the certificate. It is created with the Certification Authority's private key and is generated by the algorithm identified in the Certificate algorithm identifier field.

References

• Microsoft Support: Description of Digital Certificates
• Tech FAQ: Digital Certificates
• DRNet: X.509
• DRNet: Certificate