Question

What is root certificate authority hierarchy? explain and give an example

Answer 1

Explanation:

A CA hierarchy starts with the root CA at the top. Under the root sit a number of intermediate CAs. The Root CA will issue the intermediate CA certificate. The intermediate CA will then issue another CA, one level down, or sign end entity certificates.

Answer 2

A CA hierarchy enables you to have a level of segmentation between different uses cases for the PKI. This applies both to administration and the role of certificate authority.

Separating administration roles allows different people or functions to manage a certificate authority. Having a segmentation of duty at the CA level reduces the blast radius of a compromised CA and gives flexibility to the parameters of the certificate issued by a CA. For example, this enables different certificate lifetimes issued on certificates per CA.