Revocation

What Does Revocation Mean?

In IT, revocation most often refers to the revocation of a digital security certificate. The Internet is managed by a system of security protocols using digital certificates to verify the identity of a website’s management. If a certificate is taken away, IT pros call this revocation.

Techopedia Explains Revocation

Digital certificates assure that the identity of Web owners and maintainers is transparent. These documents need to be genuine and legitimate. A Certificate Authority manages digital certificates for Internet security protocols. If the Certificate Authority sees misrepresentation, when people are trying to issue digital certificates fraudulently, the authority might revoke the certificate. Systems are in place to protect Web users by notifying them when a legitimate certificate is not in place.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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