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NSE4 · Question #513

Which of the following statements best describes what a Public Certificate Authority (CA) is?

The correct answer is D. A service that validates digital certificates for certificate-based authentication purposes. A Public Certificate Authority (CA) is a trusted third-party service that verifies identities and issues digital certificates, enabling the validation of these certificates for secure authentication.

Submitted by carlos_mx· Apr 18, 2026Firewall and Authentication

Question

Which of the following statements best describes what a Public Certificate Authority (CA) is?

Options

  • AA service that provides a digital certificate each time a user is authenticating
  • BAn entity that certifies that the information contained in a digital certificate is valid and true.
  • CThe FortiGate process in charge of generating digital certificates on the fly for SSL inspection
  • DA service that validates digital certificates for certificate-based authentication purposes

How the community answered

(16 responses)
  • A
    6% (1)
  • B
    6% (1)
  • D
    88% (14)

Why each option

A Public Certificate Authority (CA) is a trusted third-party service that verifies identities and issues digital certificates, enabling the validation of these certificates for secure authentication.

AA service that provides a digital certificate each time a user is authenticating

A CA issues digital certificates, which are then used for authentication, but it does not provide a new certificate each time a user authenticates; the existing, valid certificate is presented.

BAn entity that certifies that the information contained in a digital certificate is valid and true.

While a CA certifies the validity and truth of information in a digital certificate, option D better encapsulates the CA's role in the broader ecosystem of enabling certificate validation for authentication.

CThe FortiGate process in charge of generating digital certificates on the fly for SSL inspection

A Public CA is a globally trusted, independent entity, distinct from a FortiGate process, which can itself act as a local CA for specific internal functions like SSL inspection.

DA service that validates digital certificates for certificate-based authentication purposesCorrect

A Public Certificate Authority (CA) acts as a trusted entity that issues and manages digital certificates, allowing other systems and users to validate these certificates to establish trust for secure communication and certificate-based authentication purposes.

Concept tested: Public Certificate Authority (CA) role

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-cs/certification-authorities

Topics

#Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)#Digital Certificates#Certificate Authority (CA)#Authentication

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