Certificates and CryptoAPI

CryptoAPI supports using X.509 certificates as defined in IETF RFC 3280. This documentation assumes the use of an X.509 or comparable digital certificate.

An X.509 standard certificate contains the following information.

Field	Description
Version	Version number of the certificate.
Serial Number	Serial number of the certificate.
Algorithm Identifier	Signature algorithm used by the certificate signer.
Issuer Name	Name of the issuer of the certificate.
Not Before	Date before which the certificate is not valid.
Not After	Date after which the certificate is not valid.
Subject Name	Name of the person or entity to whom the certificate is being issued.
Algorithm	Algorithm used for the public key.
Subject Public Key	Actual public key (a bit string).
Issuer Unique ID	Optional Field. If present, version must be version 2.
Subject Unique ID	Optional Field. If present, version must be version 2.
Extensions	Optional field. Represents additional data that an issuer can want to add to a certificate, such as email address or authorization to issue certificates. If extensions are present, version must be version 3.