Digital certificate
Also called: public key certificate
Course: AP® Cybersecurity Shows up in: Unit 5: Securing Applications and Data
A signed electronic document that links a public key to its owner, such as a website, so others can trust that key.
Appears in the course and exam description (CED): 5.4.C.1
Why it matters in Unit 5
Certificates rely on asymmetric cryptography: a trusted issuer signs them with its private key.
Example
A browser checks a site’s certificate before it trusts a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) connection.
Learn it properly, with a checkpoint 5.4 Asymmetric CryptographyGo deeper: the professional references
Security professionals worldwide use these: the NIST glossary (the U.S. government's official security dictionary), MITRE ATT&CK (real attacker techniques), MITRE CWE (software weaknesses) and the internet's own standards (RFCs). They go beyond the AP® course, so use the definition above for the exam.