What is the role of a Certificate Authority (CA) in PKI?

The role of a Certificate Authority (CA) in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is primarily to issue and manage digital certificates. A CA is a trusted entity that validates the identities of individuals, organizations, and devices before issuing certificates that confirm their authenticity.

When a CA issues a digital certificate, it certifies that the public key contained in the certificate belongs to the entity specified. This process is essential for establishing secure communications and ensuring that data exchanged between parties remains confidential and tamper-free. The CA's trusted status is crucial because users rely on it to verify the identity of the certificate holder, which is foundational to trust in online transactions and secure communications.

In addition to issuing certificates, CAs are responsible for managing the lifecycle of those certificates, including renewal and revocation. This ongoing management ensures that only valid entities can participate in secure communications at any given time, which further strengthens security in a PKI environment.

The other options do not accurately reflect the primary responsibilities of a CA. Storing user data pertains more to databases or data storage solutions, creating encryption keys is typically the role of clients or users in a cryptographic system, and monitoring network security relates to ongoing assessments and protections against potential threats rather than the specific issuance and management of