4 Reasons Why You Should Know About PKI

There are IT concepts you should know about if you run a business. You might not be the person or belong to the team that handles all of your IT needs, but you should still understand some of the basic notions. When you do, you can speak to the IT department more easily, and you’ll be able to take part in discussions about what technology forms you do or don’t need.

With that in mind, let’s talk about PKI. We’ll explain what it is, and we’ll give a few reasons why it benefits you to know about it.

What is PKI?

PKI stands for public key infrastructure. It is a system that governs digital certificate issuance. Digital certificates exist so you can be sure of a user, app, or device’s identity anywhere in the world.

If you know that a device has a digital certificate, that’s how you can be sure you are not communicating or trying to do business with a fraudulent entity. Some hackers will set up entities that mimic others. They'll try to get you to reveal sensitive information, which they can use against you in various ways.

Now that you know a little about PKI, let’s go over some reasons why it matters and what it can do for you.

You Can Understand a Fundamental IT Concept

As we mentioned earlier, some people who either own or operate companies don’t know very much about IT. There is not anything wrong with that, necessarily. You might do fine hiring an IT staff that can make all your critical IT decisions.

However, friction sometimes develops in companies with someone on the top rung who does not know the first thing about IT. For instance, you might have a CEO or CFO who ultimately approves the IT budget. Maybe the IT staff or freelancers you hire request more money for some IT resource, like PKI.

You don’t know what it is, so you can’t understand why you need it. That means you’re likely to clash with your IT staff. They will experience frustration because they can’t convince you PKI matters, and you will likely feel the same way because you don’t have unlimited financial resources.

That’s one reason why learning about PKI and understanding it helps. It’s a fundamental IT concept, so you’re helping your IT staff when you know a little bit more about it and why it matters.

You Can Understand How Much It Costs

Following that thought chain, if you run a company and you know about an IT concept like PKI, you will probably have some idea of how much you need to spend on it. For instance, maybe your company uses servers. Your IT team might let you know that a server base case will cost you about $50,000 if you want a fully-functional PKI system.

If you know that when you talk to your IT staff, you won’t blow a gasket if they ask for that kind of money. You will understand that’s what this sort of thing costs, and you won’t take any frustration out on the IT department. In short, you’ll know not to shoot the messenger.

You’ll Know PKI Means Privacy

Earlier, we mentioned how PKI lets you confirm an entity’s identity. If you try to communicate with an app, user, or device, you can be almost positive they’re legit if you have a PKI setup.

Identity confirmation is a huge step toward preventing hacker attacks, identity theft, data leaks, etc. All of that matters for your business. If any of those things happen, you will have to go into damage control mode. Your company might have to fold if bad publicity buries you.

However, the PKI concept comes with another aspect that we should mention. When you use it, it ensures your privacy.

Maybe you’re communicating with an entity that agrees to make a component you will use in one of your new products. You feel like this new product will propel your business to new heights and allow you to get ahead in your industry.

You don’t want anyone to know about these interactions outside of your company and the business that creates this component. If you set up PKI, you can ensure that no one sees or hears about what you have coming down the pipeline.

Industrial spies exist, and you can combat them with technology like PKI. If you know that, you will probably feel a lot better about paying the high price tag for it.

You Can Add a Digital Signature

When you have PKI in place, you can send information back and forth. Maybe you have several companies and individuals with whom you regularly communicate. They might advise you regarding what parts you need, market expansion, a new ad campaign, etc.

You’ll likely both have intellectual property. You own the rights to it if it's bespoke. You let each other see it because that’s how collaboration occurs.

Still, just because you’re letting another entity see your proprietary information or technology, that does not mean they can start using it however and whenever they want. This is where PKI can help you in yet another way. If you set up PKI, you can add a digital signature to anything over which you hold proprietary rights.

If you have a digital signature on your software, especially if you have a bespoke system, that means anywhere someone uses it or interacts with it, they will know that it’s yours. You have granted them a limited license to use it, but they can only do so as you have instructed.

As you learn more about PKI, you can see how much it will do for your business entity. Not every company will need it, but larger ones with a significant online presence probably will.

You will have to talk to your IT team about possibly implementing PKI. If you do, you’re likely to enjoy other benefits besides the ones we described.

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Mohammad 2/09/2022 How To