Project 4-5: View Digital Certificates When entering private information on a Web page, such as a credit card number, it is important to first ensure that the Web site’s digital certificate is valid. In this project you view digital certificate information. 1. Use your Web browser to go to www.google.com. Because this is the interface to a search engine it generally would not be necessary to have a digital certificate for this site. 2. Note that there is no padlock icon in the browser address bar, indicating that no digital certificates are used with this site. To verify this click File and then Properties. The Protocol: is HyperText Transport Protocol and the Connection: is Not Encrypted. 3. Click the Certificates button. A message appears that there are no digital certificates for this site. Click OK and then click OK on the Properties dialog box. 4. Now use your Web browser to go to https://gmail.google.com. This is the Web interface to the Google e-mail facility. Information entered and viewed here is protected with a digital certificate. 5. Note the padlock icon in the browser address bar. Click on the padlock icon to view the Website Identification window. 6. Click View certificates. 7. Note the general information displayed under the General tab. 8. Now click the Details tab. The fields are displayed for this X.509 digital certificate. 9. Click Valid to to view the expiration date of this certificate. 10. Click Public key to view the public key associated with this digital certificate. Why is this site not concerned with distributing this key? How does embedding the public key in a digital certificate protect it from impersonators? 11. Click the Certification Path tab. Because Web certificates are based on the distributed trust model there is a ‘‘path’’ to the root certificate. Click the root certificate and click the View Certificate button. Click the Details tab and then click Valid to. Why is the expiration date of this root certificate longer than that of the Web site certificate? Click OK and then click OK again to close the Certificate window. 12. Now view all the certificates in this Web browser. Click Tools and Internet Options. 13. Click the Content tab. 14. Click the Certificates button. 15. Click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities to view the root certificates in this Web browser. Why are there so many? 16. Close all windows.