Efficient handling of certificates within public-key infrastructures

The paper addresses the problem of efficiently handling certificates within public-key infrastructures, from both the communication traffic and computational load points of view. The main state-of-the-art schemes, recently proposed from both the academic and the industrial world, are discussed and the most relevant security, timeliness and efficiency features outlined. A thorough analytical investigation on the attainable performances is then carried out Particular emphasis is placed on the computational load deriving from application of each scheme, because this matter has not yet received the attention it deserves.