SSL Certificates

Question 1

PKCS12

Answer 1

• crypto object archive file format
• equivalent to Microsoft PFX
• may use file suffix .p12 or .pfx
• bundles priv key, and cert in single file
• use OpenSSL command pkcs12
• generally discouraged as a best practice due to risk of inadvertently disclosure of private key

Question 2

PEM

Answer 2

• file format for BASE64 encoded keys and certs
• use command “openssl rsa”
• file contains header/footer —BEGIN / —END