CA certificates and private key downloads

A CA certificate and private key download is a security operation that

  • enables you to back up or transfer a CA certificate and its paired private key by downloading a file from an internal CA object,

  • requires the system to decrypt the private key before creating the downloadable file, and

  • uses a password provided by the user to encrypt the downloaded file for secure storage.

Encryption and storage of downloaded CA certificates and private keys

When you download a CA certificate and its private key, the system decrypts the private key before generating the file. Provide a password to encrypt the downloaded file. This helps keep it safe during storage and transfer. The system also encrypts the private key in the CA object with a randomly generated key before saving it to disk.

Caution

Store downloaded key information in a secure location.

Caution

If you download private keys as part of a system backup, they are decrypted and stored in the unencrypted backup file.