Final answer:
Certificate chaining is used to group, verify, and establish trust in digital certificates. The correct answer is:
4) To group and verify digital certificates
Step-by-step explanation:
The purpose of certificate chaining is to group and verify digital certificates.
When a web browser or other application encounters a digital certificate, it needs to check if it can trust that certificate. Certificate chaining is the process of validating a certificate by checking its digital signature and verifying that it is issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA).
This process involves checking the entire chain of certificates, starting from the end-entity certificate (e.g., web server certificate) and moving upwards to the root certificate. Each certificate in the chain is issued by the entity above it until the root certificate is reached. This ensures that the end-entity certificate is trusted and the certificate chain is complete.
Certificate chaining serves the purpose of ensuring the trustworthiness and authenticity of digital certificates in a hierarchical certificate infrastructure. In a public key infrastructure (PKI), certificates are organized in a chain of trust. The primary function is represented by a root certificate authority (CA), followed by intermediate CAs, and finally, end-entity certificates.
The correct answer is:
4) To group and verify digital certificates
Certificate chaining involves linking these certificates in a way that allows verification of the entire chain, starting from the end-entity certificate and extending up to the root CA. This process ensures that each certificate in the chain is valid, has not expired, and has been issued by a trusted authority. By validating the entire chain, certificate chaining establishes trust in the digital certificates used for securing online communication, such as SSL/TLS certificates for websites.