Digital certificates have been around for a long time and are used to secure communications over networks. There are different types of digital certificates, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which is used to encrypt and decrypt communication in order to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. The other types include software signing, which is a method to ensure that you are not downloading malicious software or code off the internet, and DigitalID, which is used to identify a person or a client who's connecting to a secure network. For example, a VPN uses client certificates to authenticate the connection source to the routers on the destination network.
VMware uses SSL certificates to encrypt network communication to and from its components. All vSphere nodes—vCenter, PSC, and ESXi—use SSL certificates to secure communication...