RA
Registration Authority
A PKI entity that verifies identities before a CA issues certificates.
A Registration Authority verifies the identity of certificate requesters and approves or forwards requests, but it does not issue or sign certificates itself. It acts as a trusted intermediary that offloads vetting work from the certificate authority, which retains the signing function. This separation of duties strengthens the PKI by isolating identity proofing from key issuance. On the exam, the distinction is that the RA validates identities while the CA generates and signs the resulting certificates.
Registration Authority: vets and approves requests; then the CA issues. RA verifies, CA signs.
Looking RA up is step one. Getting tested on it is step two.
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