Pramanik - Cloud Based Certificate Repository

A digital certificate is issued by a (usually TRUSTED) certifying authority. The certificates are the basis for providing privacy, authenticity, integration and non-repudiation (referred to as PAIN properties). However, there may be cases when CAs are either negligent, compromised or corrupted enough to issue fake certificates, which can further compromise the entire PKI ecosystem and victimize millions through fake artefacts (fake websites, forged signatures etc.). Several initiatives like Certificate Transparency has been started to ensure proper transparency in the issuance, revocation and audit of the certificate. However, still some caveats need to be addressed. Through this paper, we propose an online system PRAMANIK for certificate validation before issuance, certificate store on a blockchain, certificate validator and a querier (augmented by database operation and API support) to build a robust PKI ecosystem for certificate management.