Design and implementation of a configurable system for managing X509 certificates

Abstract

In this paper a design and an implementation of a configurable system for managing the X509 certificates is described. The X509 certificates are one of the most important standards used today in a large number of different authentication mechanisms. As such, they represent one of the important topics at the Computer Security course at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. The system described in this paper has been used within the practical project at the Computer Security course. It provides the ability to generate, sign, and manipulate X509 certificates and it's implemented in such a way that the graphical user interface (GUI) is completely separated from the logic. This way of implementation relaxes the students from GUI programming and enables them to concentrate on programming the part related to the certificates - security part of the project. The system has been successfully used at the course in the previous school year and the new and improved version is going to be used in this school year.