PKI (public key infrastructure)

The laws, policies, standards, and software that regulate or manipulate certificates and public and private keys. In practice, it is a system of digital certificates, certification authorities, and other registration authorities that verify and authenticate the validity of each party involved in an electronic transaction. Standards for PKI are still evolving, even though they are being widely implemented as a necessary element of electronic commerce. [Exchange 2007]

underlying systems and processes necessary to support the trustworthiness and wide-scale use of public key encryption to authenticate individuals in a digital environment, especially over the Internet See also electronic signature, private key, and public key.