Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practice Exam 2025 – Your All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

In a Hierarchical Trust System, the entity at the top is the Root Certificate Authority (CA). This structure is designed to establish a trust framework within which digital certificates can be issued and verified. The Root CA is a trusted source that issues digital certificates to Intermediate CAs, which in turn can issue certificates to end users and devices.

The significance of the Root CA lies in its role as the foundational element of the trust hierarchy. It serves as the ultimate source of trust within the system. Because the Root CA is critical in establishing the authenticity of certificates, it's securely maintained and typically not used for issuing end-user certificates directly. Instead, its primary function is to sign certificates for Intermediate CAs.

In contrast, End User Certificates are issued at the bottom of this hierarchy and rely on the trust established by the Root CA and Intermediate CAs. Intermediate CAs serve as intermediaries in the certification process and help distribute the certificate issuance load, but they do not hold the supreme authority that the Root CA possesses. Digital Signatures are techniques used to validate the authenticity and integrity of data but do not reside at the hierarchical level as entities like the Root CA do.