After you generate a key pair, you can request a certificate
from a Certification Authority, or CA. Note that not everyone who
requests a certificate is given one. This is because many CAs require
information proving your identity before they issue a certificate. Also, it can
take anywhere from a day to two months or more to approve a certificate.
You are responsible for promptly providing all the necessary
information to the CA.
Before you request a certificate, you must choose a CA and contact
them regarding the specific format of the information they require. You may
first want to skip past the steps to the next section describing the
information you'll need to provide.
To request a certificate:
- In the Certificate Authority field, type the email address for
the CA you have chosen.
- Specify if this is a new certificate or a renewal. Many certificates
expire after a set period of time, such as six months or a year. Some
CAs will automatically send you a renewal.
- Type the location and password for your key file. This information
is not sent to the CA. This information is used to encrypt a
message to the CA.
- Type your identification information. The format of this information
varies by CA. For a general description of these fields, see the list in
the next section. Most of this information usually isn't required for a renewal.
- Type your phone number. Be sure to include your area code and
any international codes as applicable. The CA uses this number to contact
you regarding your request for a certificate.
- Double-check your work to ensure accuracy. The more accurate
the information, the faster your certificate is likely to be approved.
- Click OK when the information is correct. Confirm your changes.
An email to the CA that contains your information is generated.
The email has a digital signature created with your private key. The
digital signature is used by the CA to verify that the email wasn't
tampered with during routing from your server machine to the CA. In
the rare event that the email is tampered with, the CA will usually
contact you by phone.
When the CA sends you your certificate via email, you can install it using
the Install a Card Processor Certificate form.
What information does a Certification Authority need?
When you purchased LivePayment, you received a list of CAs. You
must contact a CA to find out what information they require before
they issue a certificate. Most CAs require that you prove your identity.
For example, they want to verify your company name and who is authorized
by the company to administer LivePayment and whether you have the legal
right to use the information you provide.
When requesting a certificate, you provide the following to the CA:
- Common Name is usually the fully-qualified host name used in
DNS lookups (for example, www.netscape.com).
However, some CAs might require
different information, so it's very important to contact them regarding this.
- Email Address is your business email address. This is used
for correspondence between you and the CA.
- Organization is the official, legal name of your company,
educational institution, partnership, and so on. Most CAs require that you
verify this information with legal documents (such as a copy of a business
license).
- Organizational Unit is an optional field that describes an
organization within your company. This can also be used to note a less
formal company name (without the Inc., Corp., and so on).
- Locality is an optional field that usually describes the city,
principality, or country for the organization.
- State or Province is usually required but can be
optional for some CAs. Most CAs won't accept abbreviations, but check
with them to be sure.
- Country is a required, 2-character abbreviation of your
country name (in ISO format). The country Code for the United States is US.
In the certificate file, all the fields together are called the
distinguished name. The distinguished name in a certificate is not
seen by users but it aids in uniquely identifying certificates to programs
that need to.
Some CAs offer certificates that indicate a greater level of detail and
veracityto vendors or individuals
who provide greater proof of their identity. For example, you might be
able to purchase a certificate that states that the CA has not only
verified that you are the rightful administrator of the
www.danishfurniture.com web site, but that you really are a furniture
dealer, have been in business for ten years, and have no outstanding
customer litigation against you. Generally, these certificates cost
more than standard ones.
After you contact a CA and gather the information,
submit a request for a certificate (see the previous section).