Requesting a Certificate

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:

  1. In the Certificate Authority field, type the email address for the CA you have chosen.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Double-check your work to ensure accuracy. The more accurate the information, the faster your certificate is likely to be approved.

  7. 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: