Working with public keys, private keys, certificate authority and other security measures can seem confusing. Putting together how these items work can sometimes lead to people having more questions than when they started. Rather than getting caught up on all the details, you can understand how public key infrastructure works by keeping examples simple. Also remember that there is a standard used for generating and using these security items, which is called the X509 PKI standard.
How X509 Works Depends Upon the Type of CA You Use
How does X509 actually work? It depends upon the type of CA which you are using within your organization. If you use public keys and private keys, then a certificate is created which contains information about each key. For example, Bob generates both his private key and public key. Bob then sends the public key to Steve so that Steve can unencrypt messages and information sent to him by Bob.