Certificate authority (CA) is a fancy term for an entity that issues digital certificates to websites, so your browser knows it's not being bamboozled. It's like the bouncer at an exclusive club, making sure only the legit sites get in.

How to use it in a sentence

• I was trying to deploy my new web app, but the certificate authority (CA) was being a total pain and wouldn't issue me a cert. Apparently, my "domain" of "totallylegitsite.biz" wasn't good enough for them. 🙄

• The security team was freaking out because they found out our certificate authority (CA) had been hacked. I told them to relax, I'm sure those script kiddies were just trying to get free SSL certs for their Minecraft servers.

If you actually want to learn more...

• Martin Fowler wrote a bliki post on Certification Competence Correlation that discusses the general uselessness of most software certifications. But hey, if you need that piece of paper to get past HR, you gotta do what you gotta do.

• If you're into vintage web content, check out this list of spam resources from Paul Graham. It's not directly related to certificate authorities (CAs), but it's a fascinating look at the early days of fighting spam. Plus, it might give you some ideas for dealing with all those annoying marketing emails you get.

• For a deeper dive into the world of certificate authorities (CAs) and other DevOps-y stuff, peruse some of Martin Fowler's articles on Continuous Delivery. Warning: may cause sudden urge to automate everything.

Note: the Developer Dictionary is in Beta. Please direct feedback to skye@statsig.com.