What is an electronic document confirming an identity called?

A digital certificate is an electronic document used to confirm the identity of an individual, organization, or device. It contains information about the entity it is issued to, including their public key, as well as details about the certificate authority that verified the information.

Digital certificates are a crucial component of public key infrastructure (PKI), enabling secure communication over the internet. They help establish trust in digital communications by providing a means to verify identities, ensuring that the person or entity you are interacting with is indeed who they claim to be. This assurance is vital in various applications, such as secure email, online banking, and website encryption through HTTPS.

In contrast, a digital key refers to a cryptographic key used in encryption processes, but it does not inherently provide identity verification. Encryption is a method of securing data by transforming it into an unreadable format for unauthorized users, but it does not serve as an identity confirmatory document. Access tokens are used in authentication systems to grant access to resources, but they do not provide verification of identity in the same way a digital certificate does.