Certification Practice Statement

What Does Certification Practice Statement Mean?

A Certification Practice Statement (CPS) is a notification from a certificate authority that shows how they handle elements of security processes. Certificate authorities are responsible for providing digital certificates for websites that provide security encryption.

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Techopedia Explains Certification Practice Statement

A Certification Practice Statement involves explanation of the certificate authority’s practices for issuing certificates, as well as storing, renewing or revoking certificates. In general, the Certification Practice Statement is driven by “certification policies,” which should be transparent. These documents show how the certificate authority manages public key encryption and how it participates in greater architecture, such as the Web of Trust (WoT), where a third-party tool rates various security architectures of websites.

Certificate authorities issue digital certificates as part of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security protocols for the internet. These help to provide authentication for websites to prevent hackers from deceiving end-users and web security tools.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…