In recent years, digital certificates have become one of the most widely accepted public key technologies used to secure electronic communications that are transmitted over the Internet. To promote the use of this technology, the e-Provisioning Group within Information Technology has established the Virginia Tech Certification Authority (VTCA) to provide a digital certificate service to the campus community.

Digital certificates are electronic identity credentials which use encryption to support secure access to a large number of web services and applications on campus. Initially, the VTCA is issuing web server certificates. Web server certificates are digital credentials that reside on a server and set up a secure connection between that server and a client or another server.

Eventually the VTCA service will be expanded to issue user certificates to faculty, staff and students. User certificates can be installed onto smart cards and can be used for authenticating oneself to web applications as well as sending or receiving secure email.

The VTCA will play an increasingly significant role by providing several important security functions including strong digital identity credentials for authentication; strong encryption for data communications and storage privacy; digital signatures which support non-repudiation of online transactions; and document integrity using digital signatures.