Viewing Digital Certificates

For this assignment, you will view digital certificate information using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Follow the step-by-step guide in the attached instructions. In a

Microsoft Word document or Rich Text Format (RTF) file, answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think digital certificates are not used on Google's home page (www.google.com)? Should they be?
2. What protocol is being used when you navigated to gmail.google.com? Why did that automatically occur?
3. What is different about the information exchanged through e-mail and through a search engine?
4. What are the valid dates of the certificate for gmail.google.com?
5. Why is this site not concerned with distributing the public key? How does embedding the public key in a digital certificate protect it from impersonators?
6. What are the valid dates of the root certificate? Why is the expiration date of the root certificate longer than that of the Web site certificate?
7. Why are there so many certificates listed in the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities?
8. Under the "Export Format," what is the default format?
9. To which PKCS format can this information be downloaded? Why this format only?