Chain of trust

Imagine you're at a park and you want to play on the swingset. You ask your mom if it's safe to play on the swingset and she says yes. You trust your mom and play on the swingset.

That's kind of like a chain of trust. Your mom tells you it's safe, and you trust her, so you play on the swingset.

But what happens if you ask someone else if it's safe, like a stranger at the park? You don't know if you can trust them because you don't know them. So you go back to your mom and ask again.

That's kind of like a chain of trust, too. You trust your mom and go to her for information because she's someone you know and trust.

In computer science, a chain of trust works in a similar way. When you use the internet, you connect to lots of different websites and services. You might not know who runs those websites or if they're trustworthy.

But some websites are considered "safe" because they have certificates that prove they're real and trustworthy. And those certificates were issued by other organizations or entities that are also trustworthy.

So, it's kind of like a chain of trust. You trust the website you're visiting because it has a certificate, and you trust that certificate because it was issued by a trustworthy entity. And that entity can be trusted because it was validated by another trustworthy entity, and so on.

That's the basic idea behind a chain of trust in computer science - you trust a website or service because it has a valid certificate, and that certificate is part of a larger chain of trusted entities. And just like you trust your mom for information, computer systems rely on these chains of trust to keep your information safe and secure online.