Certificate services

A third party organisation that issues certificates used to create digital signatures. The role of the certificate service in this process is to guarantee that the individual granted the unique certificate is, in fact, who he or she claims to be. Usually, this means that the there's arrangement with a financial institution, such as a credit card company, which provides it with information to confirm an individual's claimed identity. They are a critical component in data security and electronic commerce because they guarantee that the two parties exchanging information are really who they claim to be.

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