Java certificate. CER and. pfx

A certificate that exists as a file typically has these types of forms:

　　1. Certificate with private key

Defined by the public key Cryptography Standards #12, the PKCS#12 standard, which contains the form of a certificate in the binary format of the private key and the secret key, with PFX as the certificate file suffix name.

　　2. Binary-encoded certificate

There is no private key in the certificate, DER encodes the certificate file in binary format, and a CER is used as the certificate file suffix name.

　　3.BASE64 encoded Certificate

The certificate does not have a private key, a certificate file in the BASE64 encoded format, and a CER as the certificate file suffix name.

As can be seen from the definition, only a digital certificate in the PFX format is a digital certificate in CER format that contains a private key, only the public key has no private key.

One of the entries in the PFX certificate import process is "flag this key is exportable." This will take you back up or transfer the key later. " Usually unchecked, if selected, someone else will have the opportunity to back up your key. If unchecked, the key is also imported, but cannot be exported again. This guarantees the security of the key.

If this item is not selected during the import process, the "Export private key" item is grayed out and cannot be selected for a certificate backup. Only the public key in the CER format can be exported. If the item is selected on import, the "Export private key" item on export is optional.

If you want to export the private key (PFX), you need to enter a password, this password is to re-encrypt the private key, so that the security of the private key, even if you get a certificate backup (PFX), do not know the encryption of the private key password, but also cannot import the certificate. Conversely, if you just import a certificate that exports a CER format, you are not prompted to enter the password. Because the public key is generally public, it is not encrypted

Java certificate. CER and. pfx