Concept: The Web of Trust is a decentralized model for establishing a network of trust among users in public key cryptography. Unlike traditional public key infrastructures (PKI) that rely on a centralized Certificate Authority (CA), the Web of Trust allows users to vouch for one another’s public keys.
Mechanism:
Users can create digital signatures for others’ public keys, establishing a chain of trust based on personal relationships and endorsements. If Alice trusts Bob’s key and signs it, others who trust Alice can also trust Bob’s key.
The degree of trust is subjective; users can assign varying levels of trust to different keys based on their knowledge and interactions with those users.
Applications: The Web of Trust is commonly used in PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) for email encryption, allowing individuals to manage their own keys without relying on a central authority. This model can foster more flexible and user-driven security practices.