Information for Developers

Information for Developers

This page assumes that developers are familiar with the basics of the X509 certificate system and public key infrastructure (PKI). The PKI as used in web browsers on the Internet is similar but not identical to that described by the relevant RFCs. It may help to review “Information for the Public” and our FAQ for Extended Validation and our FAQ for Baseline Requirements to understand more about certificated used in the Internet PKI.

Here are some useful documents to help developers understand aspects of certificate use:

• Recommendations for the Processing of EV SSL Certificates.v.2.0
• Mozilla’s List of Included Root CAs – (a detailed spreadsheet of this table is also available here)
• Department of Defense (DOD) Class 3 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Public Key-Enabled Application Requirements
• W3C’s Web Security Context: User Interface Guidelines
• FIPS 186-4, the Digital Signature Standard
• NIST Special Publications on Computer Security, especially:
• NIST Special Publication 800-21: Guideline for Implementing Cryptography In the Federal Government
• NIST Special Publication 800-52: Guidelines for the Selection and Use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) Implementations
• NIST Special Publication 800-131A: Recommendation for Transitioning the Use of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Lengths
• NSA Suite B Cryptography

Although the CAB Forum EV Guidelines and Baseline Requirements are requirements for CAs, developers may wish to familiarize themselves with them too.