Certificate authority
In cryptography, a certificate authority (CA) is an entity that stores, signs, and issues digital certificates. A digital certificate confirms that a public key belongs to the certificate holder. The CA acts as a trusted third party between the certificate holder and the party relying on the certificate.
On this page
Source content checked . English translation published 2026-10-27.
In business automation
A certificate authority certifies that a certificate belongs to a domain or service. In automation, it is why a browser or client trusts HTTPS, and it is also the basis for mutual authentication between internal services.
Examples
These examples illustrate a possible workflow. Adapt the connections and rules to your own systems.
Trusting an external payment page
The customer is redirected to a payment page. The browser checks that the certificate was signed by a recognized authority and that the domain name matches. If a certificate warning appears, the process stops instead of entering a card on an unverified site.
Relevant tools
- Vercel
- Issuing a certificate for a domain relies on a public authority; you are still responsible for DNS ownership and renewal.
What to check
- Installing a private authority on every computer without an organized inventory makes it difficult to revoke a leaked certificate.