Public Key Infrastructure

Public Key Infrastructure Technology

Certification Authorities and Digital Certificates

The effective operation of PKI very much depends on the support of a CA. The main role of a CA is to act as a trusted third party to verify the identity of digital certificate subscribers.

The Hongkong Post is the first publically recognised CA under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance ("ETO") (Cap. 553). Any organisation and member of the public can buy digital certificates in Hong Kong from Hongkong Post, and they issue different types of digital certificate such as e-Certs, Bank-Certs and Mobile e-Certs. There are also a number of other recognised CAs under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance.