Certification Practice Statement (CPS)

What Does Certification Practice Statement (CPS) Mean?

A Certification Practice Statement (CPS) is a notification from a certificate authority that shows how they handle elements of security processes. Certificate authorities are responsible for providing digital certificates for websites that provide security encryption.

Techopedia Explains Certification Practice Statement (CPS)

A Certification Practice Statement involves explanation of the certificate authority’s practices for issuing certificates, as well as storing, renewing or revoking certificates. In general, the Certification Practice Statement is driven by “certification policies,” which should be transparent. These documents show how the certificate authority manages public key encryption and how it participates in greater architecture, such as the Web of Trust (WoT), where a third-party tool rates various security architectures of websites.

Certificate authorities issue digital certificates as part of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security protocols for the internet. These help to provide authentication for websites to prevent hackers from deceiving end-users and web security tools.