The Application of 3rd Party Certification Programme in Malaysia

Have you ever thought that is it secured to make an online transaction? Will the receiver receive my messages without being known by other third party? How do I know my privacy is not being intruded by others? Is the website that I visit can be trusted? and a bunch of questions that you would like to know. Well, there is someone out there is responsible for all the security and privacy issues that are conducted in the cyber world. They are known as Certification Authority or CA, which is a body that are given the licence to operate as a trusted third party in the issuance of digital certificates. In Malaysia, there are 2 licenced CAs which can issue digital certificates to secure web servers, browser and email packages with a range of assurance level; Digicert Sdn Bhd and MSC Trustgate Dotcom Sdn Bhd.(An affiliate partner with VeriSign)

Of course, there is also other well known and highly trusted CAs; VeriSign and Thawte.

What is digital certificate? Why do we need it? Digital certificate acts as an ID card of the particular company which contains name, serial number, expiration dates, a copy of certificate holder’s public key and the digital signature. It is just same as in the physical world where we have the driving licence, business licence, IC and etc. The differences are that it is used hand in hand with the public key encryption system and it is in the digital form. It functions as to certify that the particular website, people or servers are reliable sources and provide protection for the data exchanged between 2 parties from any threat. To know more about digital certificate, click here.

When you browse secured webpage, you will see a security status bar which located next to the address bar. When you saw a lock icon it means that the webpage you browsing is secured. Click on the lock icon, you will see the certificate that used to encrypt the connection contains the information of the website owner.

Why does the digital certificate so important? Well, it assures you with:-

• Confidential which guarantees you the protection against third party invasion of the messages passed between 2 parties;
• Authentication of the other party’s digital signature is verified by the person himself;
• Integrity of the information passed between the 2 parties is not intruded by third party;
• Non-Repudiation where ensure the party did not deny the action of sending or receiving any transaction/information being made.

Digital certificates play an important role in keeping any online matters safe and secure. It is better to be safe then sorry in order to ensure the connection you browse is secure. Therefore, check any alerts or pop up dialog from the website browser before continue any transaction and giving out your personal information.

*By Oi Ming*