scope:

This part of ISO 17090 defines the basic concepts underlying use of digital certificates in healthcare and provides a scheme of interoperability requirements to establish a digital certificate-enabled secure communication of health information. It also identifies the major stakeholders who are communicating healthrelated information, as well as the main security services required for health communication where digital certificates may be required.

This part of ISO 17090 gives a brief introduction to public key cryptography and the basic components needed to deploy digital certificates in healthcare. It further introduces different types of digital certificate - identity certificates and associated attribute certificates for relying parties, self-signed certification authority (CA) certificates, and CA hierarchies and bridging structures.