A Certificate Management Mechanism Using Distributed Ledger

Abstract

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a system that provides a secure method of exchanging digital information by authenticating the identity of the parties involved and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation of the data being exchanged. However, in recent years, attacks on CAs in PKI have been rampant, such as CA intrusion and the issuance of fraudulent certificates, causing concerns during communication. As an emerging solution, distributed ledger technology provides data traceability and immutability, solving the issue of the original PKI lacking transparency and the difficulty in immediately detecting the issuance of fraudulent certificates. In this paper, we propose a distributed ledger technology-based certificate management mechanism for issuing, revoking, and updating certificates, and also providing a secure method of communication by using certificate authentication to verify identity and ensuring communication security.