No Single Killer App for PKI

Talk about Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), the technology behind digital certificates, and opinions start flying. While there have been a number of successful implementations over the past five years, many evaluators still see PKI as a technology poised at the starting gate. As with most research papers on the subject, this one covers the well-known security functions enabled by PKI. More attention, however, is focused on business and technology issues associated with PKI implementations. Reflecting on five years of PKI project experience, the author will identify technology trends and valuable lessons learned that might help the success of any PKI project. Finally, after evaluating truths about the title statement 'No single killer application for PKI' this paper presents the author's perspective on the real benefits of PKI as a technology. '