Final answer:
PKI stands for Public Key Infrastructure, comprising components like CA, certificate store, and key pairs to facilitate secure electronic transfers. Attackers can compromise a PKI through stolen private keys or by targeting the CA.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is PKI?
A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software, and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store, and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. The purpose of PKI is to facilitate the secure electronic transfer of information for a range of network activities such as e-commerce, internet banking, and confidential email.
Components of a PKI
- Certificate Authority (CA): An entity that issues digital certificates.
- Certificate Store: A repository to store issued certificates and private keys.
- Registration Authority (RA): An authority in a PKI that verifies user requests for a digital certificate and tells the CA to issue it.
- Public and Private Keys: The key pair used for encryption/decryption and signing/verifying.
How can an attacker compromise a PKI?
Attackers might compromise a PKI by targeting various components, such as using a stolen private key for impersonation, installing malware to intercept private key usage, or conducting a man-in-the-middle attack to decrypt confidential information. It is critical for organizations to secure the private key and ensure the integrity of the CA to maintain a robust PKI.