Certificates can be used for:

• Authentication, which verifies the identity of someone or something.
  
• Privacy, which ensures that information is only available to the intended audience.
  
• Encryption, which disguises information so that unauthorized readers are unable to decipher it.
  
• Digital signatures, which provide nonrepudiation and message integrity.
  

These security services can be important to the security of your communications.

• Certificates and Authentication
  
• Privacy
  
• Encryption
  
• Digital signatures