Public key certificate

Okay kiddo, so you know how sometimes you have a secret code that only you and your best friend know? That's kind of like how a public key certificate works.

You see, on the internet, sometimes people need to send secret messages to each other, like when you play a game with your friend and you send secret messages in the chat. But because there are some bad people out there who might try to steal or read those secret messages, we have to use something called encryption to keep them safe.

Encryption is like a secret code that only the sender and receiver can understand. And to use encryption, we need something called a public key and a private key. The public key is like the lock on your diary that anyone can see, but only you have the key to open it and read what's inside.

So, a public key certificate is kind of like a special document that proves that someone's public key belongs to them and is legit. Just like how you might need a special certificate to prove that you can swim well or that you've passed a test at school.

When you visit a website that has a public key certificate, your computer gets a copy of it and checks to make sure that it's real and hasn't been tampered with. If everything checks out, then your computer uses the public key to encrypt any messages that you send to the website, like your login details or personal information.

So basically, a public key certificate is like a special document that makes sure we can keep our secrets safe on the internet. Cool, right?