Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a collection of hardware, software, policies, procedures, people, and roles.

This collection is used to create, manage, distribute, use, store, validate, and revoke digital certificates, and to manage their lifecycle.

It provides secure infrastructure for verifying the identities of parties exchanging information and validating the information being sent.

The purpose of PKI is to facilitate the security of electronically exchanged information, such as internet transactions, online banking, and email.

When simple password-based authentication is insufficient, PKI is used to verify the identities of parties involved in activities requiring strong authentication and to validate exchanged information.

PKI creates digital certificates that bind a specific public key to a specific person or organization. These certificates are stored securely in a central repository and used to verify that the key belongs to that person or organization.