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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Self-Signed Certificate

Certificate signed with its own private key rather than by a trusted CA.

Definition

Self-signed certificates provide encryption but no third-party identity assurance, so clients display trust warnings unless the certificate is manually trusted. They are acceptable for testing and some internal uses. Root CA certificates are self-signed by design.

Example

A new network appliance's web interface uses a self-signed certificate until an administrator installs a CA-issued one.

Exam tip

Self-signed certificates trigger browser warnings; replace with internal or public CA certificates in production.

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