Cryptography Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Notes
Dr. Herong Yang, Version 4.00

Using Certificates with Web Browsers

Part:   1  2  3 

(Continued from previous part...)

View Certificates in FireFox

1. Open Firefox 1.0, and go to the "Tools / Options..." menu option. The Options dialog box shows up.

2. Click the Advanced icon, then open the Certificates section.

3. Click the Manage Certificates... button. The Certificate Manager dialog box shows up.

4. Go to the Authorities tab.

5. Select "Verisign Class3 Public Primary Certification Authority", and click "View" button. The Certificate Viewer dialog box shows up.

6. Review the details of the certificate on the "Details" tab.

Looks like FireFox allows you to view certificates, but not let you export them out to files.

Importing Certificates into FireFox

To test importing certificates into FireFox, let's reuse the same certificates:

  • herong.crt - self-signed by Herong.
  • john.crt - signed by Herong.
  • bill.crt - signed by John.
  • tom.crt - signed by John.

Here are the steps to import herong.crt into FireFox:

1. Open Firefox 1.0, and go to the "Tools / Options..." menu option. The Options dialog box shows up.

2. Click the Advanced icon, then open the Certificates section.

3. Click the Manage Certificates... button. The Certificate Manager dialog box shows up.

4. Go to the Authorities tab.

5. Click the Import button, and specify herong.crt.

6. Check all the "Trust this CA to identify ..." options, and click OK.

Herong's certificate is now imported into FireFox as a trusted certificate.

Continue to import john.crt, bill.crt, and tom.crt into the FireFox on the Authorities tab.

Conclusion

Web browser needs authority's certificates to validate Web server certificate, if the Web server is SSL enabled.

Web browser also needs client certificate, if the Web server is SSL enabled and asking for client certification.

Both IE and FireFox allow you to view and import certificates.

Part:   1  2  3 

Dr. Herong Yang, updated in 2007
Cryptography Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Notes - Using Certificates with Web Browsers