For years, you have been telling your boss that you want to enhance the security of your company’s communication by implementing certificates. He always rejects your request. Today, after reading an article about a data breach in the paper and then readin

For years, you have been telling your boss that you want to enhance the security of your company’s communication by implementing certificates. He always rejects your request. Today, after reading an article about a data breach in the paper and then reading an article about PKI in Gartner, your boss calls you into his office. “We need a Public Key Infrastructure! Why don’t we use PKI to secure our communications?” You just shake your head as he continues… “I want certificates for the remote sales users and their laptops, smart cards for our in-house technology and finance staff, and new certificates for our public-facing customer portal.” You start to explain the server(s) needed, difference between enterprise and stand-alone CAs, and the fact that the public-facing portal might not need a certificate from an internal CA. However, your boss’ eyes glaze over. “Give me your plan in writing! What do we need and why! I want this implementation to be easy, so use that Active Directory thing you’re always talking about!”