Certificate authority (CA)

A trusted third party that associates a public key with proof of identity by producing a digitally signed certificate. A CA provides to users a digital certificate that links the public key with some assertion about the user, such as identity, credit payment card number etc. Certification authorities may offer other services such as timestamping, key management services, and certificate revocation services. It can also be defined as an independent trusted source that attests to some factual element of information for the purposes of certifying information in the electronic environment. An agency that authenticates and distributes digital certificates.