Validation Authorities (VAs) are responsible for what in the PKI ecosystem?

Validation Authorities (VAs) are responsible for what in the PKI ecosystem?

• A. Validate digital certificates
• B. Issue digital certificates
• C. Store private keys
• D. Revoke user accounts

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that Validation Authorities are responsible for confirming the validity and current trust status of digital certificates. They perform status checks to ensure a certificate is still valid—checking expiration, revocation status (via OCSP or CRLs), and that its chain leads to a trusted CA. This real-time validation helps relying parties decide whether to trust a presented certificate. They don’t issue certificates (that’s the job of the CA), they don’t store private keys (private keys stay with the certificate owner or in secure hardware), and they don’t revoke user accounts (revocation here relates to certificates, not user accounts).

The main idea is that Validation Authorities are responsible for confirming the validity and current trust status of digital certificates. They perform status checks to ensure a certificate is still valid—checking expiration, revocation status (via OCSP or CRLs), and that its chain leads to a trusted CA. This real-time validation helps relying parties decide whether to trust a presented certificate. They don’t issue certificates (that’s the job of the CA), they don’t store private keys (private keys stay with the certificate owner or in secure hardware), and they don’t revoke user accounts (revocation here relates to certificates, not user accounts).